Bobby McDonagh

People are bored because they don't understand it.

They don't understand it because it's not explained and it's not explained because they're bored.

So, I mean, I think the reasons that it's not fully understood anywhere are threefold, very briefly.

First of all, because people associate with the local issue, as you know very well, rather than an issue that's that far away.

Secondly, because it's immensely complex.

The European Union is more complex, shall we say, than Ireland to understand how it works.

And yet the amount of media coverage of it is probably only 10% of what we give to Ireland.

And thirdly, of course, there's so much

disinformation and cyber warfare and lies about it.

So all those things make it very difficult to understand.

But I hope that this book will make a contribution that's both accurate but also entertaining.

You're right, Clare.

I mean, one of the chapters in this book, one of my objects is a Persian rug.

And it's a Persian rug because Persian rugs often have a deliberate flaw because only Allah can make something that is perfect.

And one of the first things I say when I'm talking about Europe is that Europe is imperfect.

But everything is imperfect.

News talk is imperfect.

RTE is imperfect.

Every family is imperfect.

So, unfortunately, the European Union, more than other organisations, because people don't like one aspect of it, even if they support 80-85% of it, they challenge the whole thing.