'How have we been prepared to surrender sovereignty so willingly?'

On Tonight with Vincent Browne, Diarmaid Ferriter, Robert Ballagh and Niamh Puirséal will explore Ireland's sovereignty in a historical context. Vincent Browne poses two questions ahead of the show. {jathumbnailoff}

In 1911, King George V visited Ireland and was greeted enthusiastically in a display of continuing affection for the British monarchy. Yet eight years later, a war of independence was fought during the course of which up to 1900 people lost their lives. Later, a civil war was fought because the terms of a treaty agreed with Britain retained allegiance to a king who was so rapturously welcomed eight years previously.

How did this come about? And if sovereignty was so important then – which essentially is what the War of Independence and the Civil War were about – how is it that via EU Treaties, including now the Fiscal Treaty, we have been prepared to surrender sovereignty so willingly?

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