Ireland is today celebrating 50 years of European Union membership.
It became a member of the European Economic Community in 1973, following an emphatic public vote the previous year.
Noelle O'Connell of the 'European Movement Ireland', says fifty years on, the country is transformed:
"It's hard to believe, but women in Ireland were forced to leave their jobs in the public sector when they got married. Now as a result, thanks to the equality legislation that not only provides for men and women getting equal pay for the same job, that marriage bar was reversed, and we really have transformed as a result of our European Union membership".
