All nationalistic jingoism aside, it's pretty hard to deny that Ireland reaped huge profits from EU membership. Considering it started as one of the poorest countries of Europe when it joined in the 1970s, subsequently received billions in direct transfers plus favorable conditions as outlined above, and today is among the richest countries in the world.
That's not to diminish Ireland's accomplishments in the least. The combination of a well-educated population and speaking (something akin to) the English language alone made them predestined to catch up eventually. Being able to engage with their former enemies in the Good Friday Agreement was also exemplary and undoubtedly returned fantastic dividends, both economically as well as morally.
But to deny that being part of the world's largest free trade block was an essential part, or to insist that when Ireland joined 40 years ago the EU was expecting, and motivated by, any short-term financial interests just seems...unnecessary petty?
Because there's nothing dishonorable in that story. Nor are those two aspects contradictory.
Germany does pretty well with an origin story far darker: not only to have started far lower than Ireland has ever been, and receiving far more support at a time where the idea of short-term returns were laughable (the Marshall Plan). But to have caused that same miserable situation pretty much single-handedly, and being the recipient of gratuitous support by essentially the same countries they had devastated in that mad crusade less than a decade prior.
