Have my Irish compatriots forgotten how the EU once treated Greece?

Another week, another bromance, this time between Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, and the Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar. The cynical Brussels game of suckering Ireland by weaponising its border with Northern Ireland in the war against a secessionist upstart is gathering pace.

“Let me first thank you, dear Leo…” began Barnier’s speech, “for inviting me to speak at this 4th All-Island Civic Dialogue. It is a privilege and honour to be here and a pleasure to be in Dundalk.”

Pleasure isn’t quite the mot juste, especially for unionists, who are not impressed at the choice of location. Not only was Dundalk so lawless during the Troubles and so welcoming to IRA people on the run that it was nicknamed El Paso, but Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein tops the poll there.

But yesterday no one cared about the unionists any more than they did about the Brexiteers. Anglophobia is fashionable again and is being fuelled by the Commission, which Varadkar innocently trusts to rescue his country from the consequences of the referendum vote.

It has been a constant in Ireland’s history to seek help against its big – often bullying – neighbour by seeking succour from the Continent. That the Irish were always let down seems to have escaped the institutional memory.