When times were good few people raised questions and concerns about the precise nature of Irish national sovereignty.
Sure, there were critics of European Union membership. Many argue that sovereignty will not be fully attained so long as there is a border on the island. And there will always be some who retain a vision of Ireland which would have the country wrapped up in itself to the point of being a living reflection of de Valera's utopian land of cozy firesides and maidens dancing at the crossroads.
Well, these days, the firesides have been largely replaced by central heating and doing a jig at a crossroads is not so much courting the attention of a potential spouse as it is an invitation to be clobbered by a speeding truck.
Nevertheless, national sovereignty remains a cornerstone issue for Ireland, as it does for all nations, the United States included.
On this side of the Atlantic many have been fretting over the sense, indeed the belief, that our republic is in hoc to overseas lenders, not least the Chinese.
So if a mighty power like America can get the jitters about its sense of sovereign independence, it's no surprise that a small country like Ireland feels much the same way, though for sure to a considerably magnified degree.
The recent leaking of details of the upcoming Irish budget by German officials caused an uproar in Dublin. This was no surprise, particularly given the fact that the details were made available to EU finance ministries before they were even viewed by Dáil members.
Surprise at this should, however, be tempered in the context of the financial bailout, the conditions of which have wrapped themselves, python-like, around the loftier notions of Irish sovereignty that politicians like to make much of when the moment requires, or allows.
Ireland, the republic that is, might be geographically on the edge of the European continent. But by virtue of its membership of both the EU and the eurozone it is at the heart of the political and economic manifestation of the united Europe experiment.
As such, it is not unlike one of the 50 American states, chaffing at times over the overbearing actions of Washington, and anxiously looking Washington's way when it needs federal intervention or assistance.
The way things are right now in Europe there are two distinct paths for the future. To say that Europe is at a crossroads sounds like a cliché, but the description does apply.
Either the bonds of union are considerably loosened, with a return to individual national currencies a part of the loosening, or the bonds are tightened, thus leading to what looks not unlike a united states of Europe stretching from the Atlantic to the Black Sea.
Though many might rightly feel peeved over the German-sourced leaks, the longer term reaction is more likely to be a resigned shrugging of the collective shoulder and perhaps even louder cheering for internationally competing sports teams which these days sometimes stand alone in the popular imagination as last bastions of a kind of uncompromised and absolute sovereignty that no longer exists, and perhaps never did.
