Product Description: Irish First, European Second scrutinizes the reasons why the Keegan family farm and seven thousand other small farms were destined to be closed down when Ireland became a member of the European Union in 1973. Socio-economic and religious changes, unimaginable during Keegan’s youth, came about as a consequence of joining the European Union. Unlike some Irish authors who portray Irish Catholic childhood as the worst anywhere, Ireland as a place of poverty, fathers as alcoholics, and mothers as defeated women, Irish First, European Second recalls healthy parents who did not meet the emotional needs of their children and of themselves, but who, nevertheless, were kind and strong people. But Keegan recalls that many women in the countryside were sold off into marriage like farm animals and that the clergy exercised repressive influence on all aspects of Irish life.