Does Brexit Jeopardize Ireland’s Future? These Directors Say…”Yes but it’s nothing new.”

Brexit and Ireland as a whole has been a hot trending topic. During a televised conversation with Jacob Reese-Mogg, Robert Peston,made a remark that has considerable outrage. He said: “Ireland has undermined, the issue of Ireland in so many different ways has undermined, British governments, you know, going back well over one hundred years now.” The subsequent uproar prompted him to clarify what he supposedly really meant via Twitter. “Some of you think I said that Ireland has a history of undermining Britain. I did not say that. I would never say that. What I said was there is a history of British governments being torn apart by policy towards Ireland — and Brexit may do that again.”

Highly acclaimed director and filmmaker, Anthony Monaghan and Executive Producer, Anthony Murphy recognizes that what Peston first said was awkwardly worded and probably not intended as an insult. Both Monaghan and Murphy are creating critical conversations around Ireland with their upcoming film My Ireland. So it only seemed appropriate that we asked them their opionion.However, considering the long history of Britain subjecting Ireland to tyrannical policies, he is offended nonetheless by Peston’s irreverent tone and by the tactless irony of the statement. Monaghan said, “I know Britain has problems, but after all the rape and bloodshed by the British on Irish soil, referencing Ireland in such a careless and snobbish way is unacceptable. If anyone or anything has been undermined, it’s Ireland.”

Monaghan’s days as a humble migrant worker on an English farm and much more will be covered in his upcoming documentary, My Ireland. It will be filmed across the Irish landscape this summer and will feature candid interviews with Irish men and women from all walks of life. The topic will be emigration — the history, the causes, the hardships and heartbreaks, how it continues to this day, and who is to blame. Monaghan elaborates: “Like a curse over the country, countless generations have had no choice but to abandon Ireland in droves just to find work. The English are not the only ones to blame. If Irish politicians had backed what Ireland always stood for, we wouldn’t be in this mess today. With this film, I hope to finally give the common man, the working class, a voice. My Ireland will be for the Irish, by the Irish.”