I am unable to comment on the situation in Ireland prior to the formation of the EuroZone because of ignorance. I do concede that a currency with small international weight is more vulnerable to manipulation via the FX markets.

If you enjoy the benefits of a sovereign fiat currency it is unwise to borrow in another currency, especially one in which you are NOT paid. We see this happen over and over. You open yourself to currency risk when you do so. Also, to  benefit from a sovereign fiat currency the country's monetary policy has to be run in ways that take advantage of those benefits. The tendency in the Anglo world has been to instead just pretend we are still on the gold standard.

Another big disadvantage of the Euro, especially for small countries, is that while there is one currency that all members USE, each country that is a member is responsible for their own banks and supervision. There is a bank that is responsible for managing the Euro, the ECB, but it is forbidden, at the insistence of Germany, to perform the primary task for which central banks exist - to protect the payment system. Instead, individual governments are responsible for the banks in their territories. But the governments cannot create Euros, so they cannot assure against default.

And then, if I recall correctly some of your posts from around 2008 and thereafter, there was more than the taint of corruption in some of the dealings between the Fianna Fail government and the banks and between Irish banks and foreign banks, especially German banks. So, when the crunch came the Irish state and its taxpayers DID in fact have to make good the losses of German banks - losses those banks were in the best position to have foreseen. Heaven forbid that German taxpayers should have to make good the losses incurred by German banks in foreign nations.

It is for outrages such as this that I cannot but see the EuroZone as anything but a giant control fraud run on behalf of Germany by the ECB and the EC.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."