Our American cousins cared for us - as EU Big Brother stabbed us in the back

The old boy with the twinkly eyes, the long white beard and a word for everyone parked his festooned and very bored donkey on the main road to somewhere scenic.

He was only just a small bit bigger than a big leprechaun - the old lad that is.

It is said there was a large bundle of money found under the mattress when he died. I didn't know the man and he's not from Kerry but it is my guess he slept very close to the roof.

His USP was to get his dog to stand on the donkey's back. The tourists , especially the Americans, came with a romantic vision of Ireland which was partly down to Bord Fáilte, as our tourist board was known back then, and partly due to movies like 'The Quiet Man'.

John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara were the stars. John arrived back to the old country from America and he fell in love with the red-haired Maureen. The scenery was magnificent. The old homestead was thatched and whitewashed and it was built on the banks of a silver stream. This wasn't the real fifties west of Ireland of emigration and the relentless enforcement of a puritanical moral codex by Church and State. But the image sold Ireland in bad times.

"Top o'the mornin'," was the salute in the movie. No one really says "top o'the mornin" in Ireland. I was out for a walk in the rain in a very beautiful but wet spot a few weeks back. "Soft," says I, by way of hello to a passer-by. The disgruntled local replied with no more than a grunt, followed by "another s****y day in paradise".

I meet a good few American tourists every summer here in our pub. The Americans have changed their view of Ireland. I cannot recall even one mention of a leprechaun all summer long. The US visitors, and in particular the Irish-Americans, know their stuff.

Fáilte Ireland has almost imperceptibly changed the way Ireland is marketed. There is still the scenery and the stock shots of lakes, seas and mountains - our country's natural beauty will always be a major attraction. But most of the Americans I meet are here for the people. And the one thing we do better than any country I have ever visited is talk.

The tour guides and the drivers tell it as it is. The day is long gone when we could get away with false paddywhackery and handy oul' guff.

The Irish-Americans in particular have a fierce desire to find out who they are, why they are the way they are and where they came from.

I feel so sorry for so many who know they are Irish but are unable to trace their ancestors, mainly because their people left around the time of the Famine. Inside they are Irish and the thrill they get when they see their surname over a shop is heart-warming.

The Irish-Americans have to work hard to find access to the Irish culture we take for granted. Their kids play Irish music, go to Irish dance classes and are far more interested in our literature than most Irish-born children.

We must treat Irish-America with the greatest respect.

I was in the White House this year for the St Patrick's Day celebrations. President Obama's first words were: "I am here to welcome my own people." Later in the speech, he said with some passion: "My daughters have Irish blood running through their veins." The president's Irish links go back eight generations but he feels Irish and, yes, he is Irish.

This was no election gimmick. He's not running this time. All of us in that room knew he was sincere. Irish-America is sincere. These people love us and we must make sure we love them back because for all its faults, Americans are our best friends.

The EU bullied us in to backing up its banks. Our kids will pay back people they will never meet for the rest of their lives. The big European powers did nothing for us when we were good boys and girls.

We all thought if we played ball there would be some comfort for us from Europe down the line. Now the EU is trying to destroy our one advantage, which is our low corporate tax base. Finance Minister Michael Noonan knows this. He understands the economy.

You may agree or disagree with his policies but he is one of the few who can read the trends.

All through the recession, the Americans were our only allies. Our tech industry is here because of our American friends. We must never forget there are Irish in America who will fight for us and back us up.

It is time for realignment and we as a nation must look west across the Atlantic. The EU's Apple ruling and the bailout blackmail prove conclusively the EU is not to be trusted.

The only saving grace is a united Europe might stop another huge war that would ultimately destroy our planet.

On Saturday, Cathy McKay called to our pub. I was talking to group from the excellent CIE Tours and I mentioned my mother and how much I missed her but that I felt her spirit was still with us. Cathy had just spread her husband Billy's ashes in the Atlantic at audio stop seven on the Cliffs of Moher. You might say a prayer for Bill and Cathy the next time you are there.

Bill was Irish-American and he loved the country of his ancestors.

We must play away with Europe. We are small and the old Irish seanfhocail, 'An té nach bhfuil láidir, ní foláir dó a bheith glic' (He who is not strong has to be clever) is apt.

Our country must never again become reliant on one union. It is time to build a bridge to Manhattan, and the sooner the better.