Will (or indeed should) the UK ever rejoin the EU?

No insults.

As Seth said above, it'll take a generation for the Brexiteers' voices to diminish and maybe then they will attempt to rejoin. But by then I expect the UK as we know it won't exist anyway and Scotland will already be in the EU.

Greece should never have been allowed join the EU in the first place.

UK will never join EU. Sovereignty more important than communal farming.

The European Union will fail eventually or rather, it will diminish back to its original purpose a trading agreement. We’ll all be better off out of it. The EU needs to change or fail altogether.

De Gaulle was spot on all along. Britain should never have joined. Trouble is we would never have joined either. Maybe we would be joined in some form at this stage. Britain would be a lot better off now if it had gone down the Norway route. It would have deprived the eurosceptics of oxygen over the last 30 years and they’d probably never have gained the traction they did. Again to reiterate the point De Gaulle was right. He saw what it was like to be in a sort of union/humiliation with Britain during the war. Of course we ourselves here in Ireland know full well what it’s like to be in a union with Britain as well. Britain can’t countenance any Union of equals.

But trading difficulties with Britain does create problems for us they being our nearest neighbours there is no getting away from that reality that is why we are so excercised by brexit

Lucky for Ireland that the UK joined as Ireland could never have become economically independent otherwise.

UK could never have been a Norway - which must follow EU rules with relatively little input: UK wanted, wants & believes itself entitled to dominate others.

Ireland's problems with brexit primarily come down to Northern Ireland. Long term that's the UK's problem also: if they create an unstable situation there it is unsustainable for them which means a United Ireland. The only thing preventing a United Ireland is an operable NI protocol.

Does repeating that lie make you feel better? I mean, at this stage this has been done to death so I can't imagine you don't know the truth of the matter that the EU was never created as a trading agreement even before the inception of the European Coal and Steel Community? So why post it? Plainly the EU has radically changed and continues to change to this day. But you know all this and instead repeat debunked talking points from the far right.

Personally I dread the thought of a United Ireland. As a 26 county country we are doing pretty damn well for ourselves overall and introducing the pile of sh**e that is NI politics (that being generous) into the new Republic would be a complete mess.

There is an alternative that no-one seems to be speaking about. Should Scotland secede I think NI and Ireland would be served much better if NI were to form part of a United Scotland. The traditional ties between GB and NI have always been stronger with the Scots than the English and this potential marriage of nations may satisfy nationalist and unionist both in that neither Dublin or London would be involved. If the United Scotland is accepted into the EU then border issues on Ireland cease to be a concern and we can finally bury the current idea of UI.

It's "impossible to say" in the same way as it is "impossible to say" if gravity works or if evolution is a thing. The basic rules of economics say that brexit can only be a failure.

The tax thing was an OECD decision - 193 countries for it - Ireland against. Is France so powerful now it controls all those countries? If so, it's a good thing we are in the EU so that they can't trample us the way the British have tried and continue to try.

Considering the UK is back again trying to dismantle the Irish sea border- which will allow Ireland to be flooded with the UK's excess BSE infected beef they can no longer sell abroad, the sewage soaked sea food they similarly cannot & the various lowest common denominator pesticide-soaked & GMO food - you'll have to forgive Irish people for giving a ****.

Your post is exactly the type of posting I am talking about.

I studied Economics and don't remember a basic rule that states that an independent country in charge of its own borders and trade agreements can't be economically stable and successful. You are simply assuming that by leaving a trading bloc a country will long term suffer economically but that assumes it stands still and does nothing else.

If you don't believe EU pressure, soundings and specifically French influence (Macron was in Dublin shortly before the u-turn) had nothing to do with Pascal's sudden change of tune fine but I think you being naive as to the influence senior EU figures have over domestic Irish policy.

Of course the UK are trying to dismantle the Irish Sea Border. Would you like a border around Cork for example ? I am fully aware Brexit has caused massive issues with the North but the defacto reality of the UK leaving the EU was having a border between the North and the South the only practical solution yet it was deemed politically impossible in Ireland so we ended up with a solution that can never work. The British and Boris signed up to it as Boris saw little choice to batter Brexit through and yes they are at fault for that and it is an unpleasant side effect of the whole Brexit process but a border in some shape or form between the UK and the EU is (and this means the North too) is the only long term solution bar of course a United Ireland. Anything else is a fudge and will continue to cause problems.

As for your comments on BSE and sewage laden seafood I am not too sure where to go with those. BSE is over in the UK with the UK due next year to apply for and restore the lowest possible risk level for BSE. Was it a mess yes but hardly the only food scandal in Europe. The UK is not selling BSE infected beef. As for the seafood sewage comments again no idea where to start on that and considering Ireland is in never ending trouble with the EU over sewage discharge into our seas and rivers very much a case of get our own house in order before critical commentary on other countries.

In time will Brexit prove to be an unmitigated mess for the UK, quite possibly. Might another narrative play out, quite possibly.

I know Brexit bashing is fun but maybe we could look past it now as it has happened.

To get back to the post topic I dont think the UK will rejoin the EU or even consider it for at least a generation and much will depend on exactly what happens in the EU and how the European Project plays out in the next 20-30 years.