But let’s just note the misfortune of Jeremy Corbyn, a renowned EU opponent, leading Labour at that point. There was nothing much more that the Irish government could have done on this issue.
Efforts to influence the Irish community in the UK met a mixed reception – many of the older, established immigrants opted for Leave. But it was an honest effort, worth a try, and accusations of “Irish interference” never got much traction.
It is what happened thereafter which caused the major damage. If there were more stable party politics in the UK, and wise leadership, we could now be looking at a benign Brexit having been completed some time ago, and little harm done to the people of all these islands and across the rest of the EU.