By now you’ve probably heard about the UK’s vote to leave the EU, and some opinions about what that will mean for the future. We have friends on both sides of the debate, and can certainly see good arguments from both of those sides, but the purpose of this post is not to argue about who was right. This post is more about how the decision effects us and the country we live in, the Republic of Ireland. We do not live in the small corner of Ireland that is part of the UK, so for us personally, not much will change in the near future except the volatile exchange rate between the Dollar and the Euro. The Republic of Ireland is still part of the EU, which means that there are definitely some questions looming: What does this vote mean for the currently open border between the independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which will no longer be part of the EU? What does it mean for the massive amount of trade, immigration and travel back and forth between Ireland and the UK? What does it mean for the future of the EU and our currency, the Euro, when one of the biggest net contributors pulls out? The simple fact is that Ireland does have a lot to lose financially if the Euro falls apart or our relationship with the UK sours. This year Ireland has been celebrating 100 years since the beginning of the rebellion that led to Irish independence from England, and a friend from Youghal summed up the whole situation this way: “We spent centuries under the shadow of the crowd across the water, and now we’re feeling very lonely without them.”