[rurai]

There were two very different dynamics.

A Cuban wealthy elite became exiles in Miami, and a strong political force in their own right to put pressure on the government to keep the embargo in place. That coupled with the domino theory that the US foreign policy followed at the time they couldn't allow a successful post-colonial country exist peacefully outside of their sphere of influence. After the embargo had been in place for so long America only can lose by removing it unless they get some market access concessions from Cuba in return.

In Ireland's case the UK needed Ireland as a supply of livestock to feed their population so while the autarky hurt the Irish economy most people were poor farmers anyway so it didn't make a whole pile of difference while in the UK a rise in beef prices hurt their emerging middle class. Overall the amount of money involved was relatively small and since the Irish central bank was still linked to the Bank of England, Irish fiscal policy could still be tangentially controlled by UK monetary policy to keep trade flowing, without having to resort to physical force.

[smcl]

We're in agreement - the whole point of this thread was how early-stage Cuba and Ireland were vastly different situations and that Ireland's majority Catholic population wasn't the cause behind them not developing closer ties with the USSR.