Irish calls to dump EU and approach the USA

I have been wondering for some time why the Irish are prepared to continue to stomach the quite disgraceful demands of the tyrannical and non-democratic EU, given their strong historical links just across the North Atlantic Ocean. Two items in the Irish Independent this morning indicate such a suggestion is no longer taboo in Dublin. They may be read here and here. The complex nonsense that is the Lisbon Treaty provides all 27 former nations the right to withdraw from the EU; generally speaking the powers conferred on the non-withdrawing parties are so extreme that such a right could rarely be envisioned as sensible, but the growing disaster that the Euro currency has wrought upon Ireland's finances makes the economic consequences less than daunting given the indebtedness of Ireland's taxpayers to the evil EU empire. Default and a new arrangement with Ireland's pwerful neighbour to the West would seem an attractive alternative for Ireland, especially given the new Merkel/Sarkozy nightmare of yet another new EU Treaty transferring economic governance and carrying penalties such as lossed voting rights now looming in the wings. If Ireland goes, can then the UK surely not follow quite quickly behind?