It’s not the “key vote” in the sense of tiebreaker or decider etc.
The EU is a confederation of independent countries that pool together some things like trade policy (which gives small countries like Ireland, Estonia etc. a bigger voice and negotiating position in trade).
Now the key point of any confederation is how well it takes care of its smaller members.
the EU, outside of the UK, France, Germany and Italy is all small countries and they were watching Brexit very, very closely.
Brexit mostly affects Ireland - and Ireland would be hit by 1. trade problems no matter what kind of deal or no deal (20% of their business is with the UK, down from 70% 40 years ago, but still a lot
2. by food/electricity (the British minister threatened to cut off food supplies. But this is now solved by increased trade going from the european mainland to ireland directly and also electricity cables connecting Ireland to the EU-wide grid)
and
3. by violence IF a border came up.
Germany and France wanted a deal, the UK wanted a deal etc. - but the former could not throw Ireland under the bus.
The ONLY stickling point in the May deal was around the backstop, which was put up to solve the problem of “no border in Ireland”
So Ireland has been setting EU policy towards the Brexit deal. Think of it - otherwise, there is no issue for the UK
Thank you for taking the time to explain that with sufficient detail that I and others with my limited knowledge of the
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoiseach
concern. That being said wouldn’t Ireland be a better position to negotiate directly with the UK on trade agreements without the need to filter that negotiation through the EU? What about getting the US involved in bilateral or trilateral talks between UK, Ireland and the USA? Would that not be a viable option or am I missing something else.