Last Saturday in the Irish Times, Fintan O’Toole wrote a fine piece, reflecting on 50 years of Ireland’s membership of the European Union.   He recalled the downbeat mood on January 1 1973: “No fireworks, no gala concerts, no special programmes on RTÉ…….The main Irish Times headline was almost comically anticlimactic: Ireland Enters E.E.C. Without Any Fanfares”. He also noted another detail of that Irish Times front page of 50 years ago –  “The boring news about entry into the EEC competes with a photograph of a ruggedly handsome young man in moody semi-profile. His name is given as Martin McGuinness, his…

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