In no area of life is the divergence between Britain and Ireland greater than in the question of attitude to membership of the EU. Last week, there was a general think-in on the future of Europe in the wonderful surroundings of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

Not surprisingly, there was an acknowledgement that Europe was not perfect and faced many challenges. We don’t need to go into them here but in a statistically significant survey of 1,000 people, the view of the Irish population was astonishingly clear. The poll was taken in March this year so it’s up to date and 92% agreed with the statement that Ireland should remain a part of the EU.

Interestingly, of those aged 18 to 24 years of age, 97% agreed with the statement. It’s clear that there is no stomach to go back to the isolationism of the past. There was widespread agreement that Ireland has benefitted from EU membership and 58% agree that Ireland, if required, should contribute more to the EU budget to continue to benefit from membership – even though we are now significant net contributors.

With the Brexit uncertainties hanging over so much, it is clear that the Government has the population behind it in seeking the best deal possible while remaining a full and engaged EU member.

Glanbia – a postscript

I was surprised to be taken to task so severely following my view on Glanbia last week. I wrote, as a modest new co-op shareholder who was glad to receive top-up payments on the basis of the volume of business done with the new entity, Glanbia Ireland.

The point was forcibly made to me that these payments, financed as they are by the dividends from the PLC, should not be allowed as an excuse for Glanbia Ireland not paying a full market price at least in line with the rest of the industry for milk and grain and, similarly, the price of their inputs should be no higher than the rest of the sector regardless of the PLC dividend financed discounts. Of course that point goes without saying but we should also welcome the structure that reflects the PLC dividends.