"Gods make their own importance..."

It becomes pretty clear here, quite quickly, that many of the people here have only a vague idea of where Ireland might be, geographically. Those who can identify it on the map generally think it is part of the United Kingdom. And most people seem to think that Northern Ireland is a completely separate island to the rest of Ireland. Many people ask what type of government have we and, even when I tell them that we are a republic, they presume, because Ireland is so closely linked to Britain in their minds, that we have a Queen, or some sort of royal family. The idea that Ireland has two official languages is entirely surprising to them, and quite a few of them are under the impression that there is an armed conflict going on between the army of the Republic of Ireland and the army of Great Britain.

It's not hard to understand how some of this confusion arises. European news is not reported very much here, and what they "know" about Ireland has been pieced together from snippets they have picked up from different places, with no particular order, and no organising principle.
Mind you, it has also been my experience that most Irish people know very little about Panama. Those who do know something about it know about the Canal and the Panama Hat - but the Panama Hat is actually Ecuadorian.

I think that it is fair to say that most Europeans have only a passing familiarity with Central and South American geography and that current events in the countries of this region are largely unknown among most people in Ireland and other European countries. That Nicaragua is in a state of near collapse; that Venezuela is currently going through an undeclared civil war; and that huge numbers are fleeing hunger and poverty in Cuba are just some of the things that might surprise Europeans who begin to look at this region.

It is therefore surprising that Brexit has become such a familiar word for people here. While it is true to say that most of them have no clear idea of what it is about or about why there is so much fuss about it, it is also true that most Europeans also have a lot of difficulty understanding it. Recent votes in Westminster have made it clear that one clear vision for Brexit just does not exist; the future for Britian's relationship with Europe remains unclear; and what a border in Ireland, whether hard or soft, might come to mean, is anyone's guess.

In an age of instant global communication it is very striking that world-changing events in different parts of the world remain local issues. I am reminded of Patrick Kavanagh's wonderful poem, written 90 years ago, Epic:

EPIC by PATRICK KAVANAGH, 1938 I have lived in important places, times
When great events were decided : who owned
That half a rood of rock, a no-man's land
Surrounded by our pitchfork-armed claims.

I heard the Duffys shouting "Damn your soul"
And old McCabe stripped to the waist, seen
Step the plot defying blue cast-steel -
"Here is the march along these iron stones."

That was the year of the Munich bother. Which
Was most important ? I inclined
To lose my faith in Ballyrush and Gortin
Till Homer's ghost came whispering to my mind.
He said : I made the Iliad from such
A local row. Gods make their own importance.