The striking thing about the Irish Sovereignty arguments re: the bailout is how non-sovereign and dependent Ireland has been since the beginning of the twentieth century.
First, between 1900 and 3 May 1921, Ireland was under British administration; clearly not sovereign and independent, and sometimes treated pretty poorly by the motherland. Your mileage may vary.
The creation of two jurisdictions in 1921, followed by the creation of the all-island British Dominion ‘Saorstat Éireann’, followed by the Act of the Northern Ireland Parliament to opt out of the new dominion, did very little to establish independence; however, it’s clear that genuine political and cultural independence have never been
Finally, the establishment of ‘Ireland’ or ‘Éire’ in De Valera’s constitution of 1937, and particularly Article 5 therein, seemed to guarantee sovereignty; however, the position of the church and the ‘holy Trinity’ front and centre in the new document (and copper-fastened in Article 44) essentially ensured some form of Vatican involvement in actual management of the state. Those who disagree may care to comment on the current position of schools in Ireland. In any case, it wasn’t until the 5th Amendment to the Constitution (voted on in referendum in 1972) (post Vatican II) that the constitutional special position of the Roman Catholic church was excised.
Joining the EU in 1972 (referendum in May and enacted in June of the same year) was proposed as an opportunity for Ireland to strike out for economic independence. It worked for a while too, until the decision to cede interest rate control to the ERM and, eventually, currency control to the Eurozone pact.
This after periods of a free floating Punt, or, as economic stability dictated, a Punt pegged to the pound. In fact, the Punt left its peg to Sterling in March 1979, as a result of Ireland joining the ERM. It’s an interesting fact that the production of new coins in Ireland for decimalisation in 1970/71 provided for them to be made of the same materials, and to the same dimensions as new British coins. And that coins for use in Ireland were made by the Royal Mint until 1973.
So the next politico or pundit commenting on a possible loss of Irish sovereignty should really consult the vast swathes of recent dependence history; there is nothing amiss or new about Ireland outsourcing sovereignty when it feels it needs to.
