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Authors Note: Next on my trip of small nations Ive managed to land myself in Ireland talking with outgoing (and possibly incoming?) President Rusty D. If you haven't yet, please check out my last interview in the series which was with the President of Denmark, Ushlau.

This series is being designed to highlight the issues that the smaller nations of eRepublik face and to bring them forward. More often than not our voices get faded out against the masses of the larger nations so lets highlight and focus on the issues and successes that are felt by the smallest, but most enduring nations.

1. I feel that your reputation proceeds you so let’s skip the introductions today and get right down to business. Ireland recently grabbed the eWorld’s attention with the war you just fought with the U.K. It was originally begun as a TW however you were betrayed and it soon turned into a real war. How did this all come about and where does France come into this whole mess?
Ummm…. My reputation…. That could be a good thing or a bad thing 😕
While I would love to show the evidence behind the facts I am about to say, I can not show pictures of private convo’s. However I do know that UK conspired with France and even gave them money to help them launch an attack on eIreland. This came about after the UK found out about Frances wishes. Even another member of Orion wanted to join in. There is plenty of public evidence out there as well, to the UK/France dealings.

2. Was the TW cancelled legally by definition of the original context of the TW?
Per the agreement, we had a clause in it that allowed either country to cancel the TW if they were under attack by another nation. We PMed the CP about this in advance, once we heard the French were eyeing us off and that is when he decided to answer the calls of his ‘people’ to back stab us and go to war.

3. The British CP was impeached during the war. What kind of impact did this have on your campaign?
None. We wanted to end it, so we didnt care who was in power. However we did have a verbal understanding with the MoFA of the impeach CP, before his impeachment, but this was thrown to the wayside after the new leaders came into power… the same people who pushed for the war.


(Rusty D says, "Let them eat cake!")
4. Your government was handing out food aid to the British public when Ireland started receiving 100% food bonuses through the regions you conquered in the U.K. If I may put it bluntly, why in the hell are you feeding the enemy?
Because the people should not suffer due to the actions of the few. The CP and his cabinet pushed for war, not the ‘mums and dads’ of the UK. We didnt want to hold resource regions or wipe the UK, we wanted the war to end. So when we took a resource region, which would of stopped them from getting the bonus, I wanted to help their people. I have seen the suffering caused by ‘trade embargos’, NE’s on Holding companies etc, I dont want that on the people who I am trying to have peace with. If Ireland went in on hostile terms, it would of been different, but this was us defending our lands.

5. You managed to march through the U.K. and capture regions, you had 100% food bonuses for a time and your coffers collected by my count at least, in the tens of thousands of cc from occupied regions. Would you call your campaign a success?
At one point the tax income from the UK was more than our own. But I consider it a success for two main reasons. 1) we taught the UK that they shouldnt reneg on the TW deal and 2) we got them to agree to Peace. It was a diplomatic victory and not a military victory. If Ireland was going for a military victory, we would of wiped the UK and went into France to teach them not to AS us.



6. You’ve just stated that Ireland is still under threat from AS. Why do you think your still being targeted and by whom?
Hahaha, I cant answer that… but in my short eRep life I have put a few noses out of joint, the fact we smashed France out of the sky and kicked the UK arse annoyed a few people, plus the fact we put ourselves on the radar always brings forward challengers. But Ireland is a peaceful nation, however we will defend our core regions.

7. The U.K. has only really recently turned their fortunes around when they joined Orion and the invasions they suffered at the hands of Finland, Sweden and Russia ended. Do you think it speaks well of them to abuse their own regional influence and power by invading a neighbour so quickly after they themselves were just invaded?
I found it funny one of the reasons they went to war was because ‘Ireland helped the US wipe them’... if that was the case, they would of went to war with the US. But I do believe it was a mixture of two things, a power play by a segment of the UK politics (apparently they have a lot of issues internally) as well as a play by the CP there to divert attention from the internal issues. This coupled with the thought France was going to land… But all in all, I think it shows a lot about the character of their power players.

8. What kind of impact do you think this will have on the reputation of the U.K. on the international level?
Not much to be honest, their allies will still support them, their friends will still support them and their alliance will still support them. We were lucky some of the power players in their MPP stack decided not to stand by them, but all in all, it will be forgotten by all, other than the citizens of the UK and Ireland.

9. Ireland is actually very close in proximity to many Orion members and it wouldn’t have taken much moving around region wise for Canada, France and Netherlands to become involved in the war. Was this something that was feared by your government and what do you think the outcome would have been if they had managed to get directly involved?
Well, I wasn't afraid of France coming into it, since they failed to land their AS and had an impeachment vote which shows they were unhappy with their current government. Canada did threaten to join in, but I think they were smart about it and saw that Ireland didnt want to wipe the UK. In regards to the Netherlands, I never thought that far ahead, but I do know some people from their, from back in my Australia days and I hope they would remember the player that I am.



10. You are running for re-election this month. What do you think your chances are of winning and if you had to pick just one priority for your upcoming term, what would be the most important?
I think I have a strong chance of winning, thanks to France and the UK. I want to focus on domestic issues, since that was what I was planning on doing this term, until we were hit unsuccessfully.

11. In your policy paper recently for your re-election you stated that you will be, “Assessing a list of 5 targets for a war and deciding on which one to present to congress.” Now is this meant in terms of an actual war, or a TW?
Actual War if congress approves and if the budget for it is met. However the targets in mind are a mixture of allies in need of help and of transgressions against us. We have had offers for a TW, but until I am elected and discuss everything with congress, no set actual war/TW has been picked.

12. After this month as CP and because of the influence of the war, what do you think Ireland’s reputation is now in global politics?
It shows we are not a dead country and even with internal issues, we will come together for the betterment of our nation. I also think it is a step in the right direction about righting the wrongs of past governments. The fact that everyone in eIreland (look at the no NE voting) didn't want to keep the UK wiped or hold any grudges against them for the actions of a few.

13. What are some of the post war impacts that Ireland is currently feeling?
RTK was proven wrong 😛 a larger MPP stack, more activity internally, people are actually less suspicious of me… tbh, I am not 100% sure.

14. For any Irish voters who might be reading this, why should they elect you to another term as CP?
Because they know that I will put Ireland first, plus I hope now they have seen me (a lot behind the public eye) put my effort in to stop the attacks, that I will do the same for our domestic policies.

15. And lastly, is there anything you think I should of asked you that I never did or anything you would like to say about you or your nation that wasn’t covered?
Yes, why did Norway not want a MPP with Ireland? Your also one of the most honest players in the game Joshua and one that I will always respect and admire… so it would of been an honour for your nation to sign a MPP with us, to show unity against the ‘reneging’ of an agreement.

Oh my, turning the tables and putting the interviewer in the hot seat? You sly dog Rusty...

Well I will give you a 100% honest answer. The first thing is that Norway has put a lot of effort (especially under my governments) into having good relations with the U.K. Now that doesn't mean we condone their actions, the opposite actually. But getting drawn into a war with them isn't what we are seeking. We've built some great personal friendships with them especially over the last year and I wouldn't want to jeopardize that, so officially our position on your war was to stay neutral although individuals were free to fight for whomever they want.

The second part of the answer is that currently Norway maintains zero MPPs and there is a reason for this. We have a TW with Finland so this is where our focus is going to. And thirdly, Norway just doesn't have the tax revenues to maintain such costly expenses. Another reason Plato should make the cost of MPPs based on population size, but that's an issue for another day.