The Irish are even more obsessed with Brexit than we are.
After I flew into Cork last month I spent the first 30 minutes in a taxi listening to an RTE phone-in on the subject.
Callers were unanimously opposed to Brexit and it was doing my head in until the taxi driver announced that his sympathies lay with Brexiteers like me.
Over dinner that night I found myself in conversation with two people, both Irish, who insisted, like some of those callers, that Brexit was all about immigration.
“Nonsense,” I said, indignantly. “Yes, it may have been a factor but for millions of people Brexit is primarily about sovereignty.”
The following day my Forest colleague John Mallon posted a thoughtful piece on the subject on his blog. He concluded:
The sin the Brits appear to have committed is their stated desire to be free to run their own country.
John is one of the very few Irishmen I have met who has taken the trouble to understand why so many Brits want to leave the EU.
On a previous visit, for Forest’s Golden Nanny Awards in Dublin in November, I got in conversation with several people who were openly dismissive of Brexit and our reasons for voting to leave.
Even Chris Snowdon, who was there as our guest and is normally the most equable of people, turned away in disgust at what he was hearing.
I can understand why many people in Ireland are concerned about the impact of Brexit on their country – the economy in particular – but that doesn't justify the lack of respect bordering on hostility for the outcome of a democratic referendum in a neighbouring country.
When Ireland voted on the Lisbon Treaty in 2008 and 2009 it never once occurred to me to mock or criticise the Irish people for either result, although I did raise an eyebrow at the decision to hold a second referendum to get the result the EU and the Irish government wanted.
As a British citizen and a resident of the UK it was none of my business how they voted.
I should add that I’ve been a regular visitor to Ireland for 15 years - mostly on business but sometimes on holiday or to visit friends - and I always enjoy going there.
Brexit however has revealed a chippy, anti-British attitude I thought was largely in the past.
A common theme, which I stumbled upon on social media, is the laughable idea that supporters of Brexit want to recreate the British Empire.
The vote to leave the EU, so the narrative goes, is a reflection of our colonial arrogance.
It may not be a direct comment. Sometimes it can be something as small as ‘liking’ a tweet that includes a snide or derogatory remark about the UK or those who voted for Brexit.
But those ‘likes’ speak volumes and I was genuinely shocked by the identity of some of the people behind them. Several I knew personally.
As I say, I accept there are genuine fears about the impact of Brexit on Ireland, but instead of working with the British government the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has been the neighbour from hell, never knowingly underselling the potential perils.
One might forgive him if it wasn't for the hypocrisy.
Here's what Brendan O'Neill, another Irishman and one of the heroes of the effort to save Brexit, had to say about "Varadkar’s meddling in British politics" – Leo Varadkar is being played like a fiddle by Brussels.
Which leads me to the ultimate irony.
Previous generations in Ireland fought to be independent of Britain yet today the Irish seem happy to be subservient to the politicians and bureaucrats in Brussels.
(The same is true in Scotland where the Nationalists demand independence from the UK but are happy for Scotland to be shackled forever to the EU.)
Meanwhile Brexiteers are mocked and patronised.
Yesterday, for example, an article published by the Guardian also appeared on the Irish Times’ website. Contempt, derision and middle class snobbery oozed from every line.
‘England’s rebel spirit is rising and it wants a no deal Brexit’ read the headline.
But the question no-one seems to be addressing is, whatever happened to Ireland’s rebel spirit?
The manner, for example, with which the smoking ban was introduced and even celebrated was a revelation to those of us who thought the Irish would resist or simply ignore it.
No such rebellion - passive or otherwise - took place. Tellingly there was far greater opposition to a public smoking ban in the UK.
Likewise there has been little or no opposition to other nanny state measures, whether it be the sugar tax or plain packaging.
OK, so these are minor issues for most people but the absence of any serious debate is still shocking.
Since launching Forest Ireland in 2010 we’ve tried numerous times to organise, with third parties, debates and discussions on a variety of issues related to individual liberty.
Few people are interested.
Student unions support campus-wide smoking bans and when we suggest a public debate no-one wants to know.
Groups with names like ‘Liberal Ireland’ come and go, enjoying a brief wave of support before dying on their arse through apathy and indifference.
Consumer choice advocacy groups (with the exception of Forest Ireland) are non-existent.
And the number of genuinely liberal commentators in the Irish media can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Today, if you want to experience anything approaching a ‘rebel spirit’, you have to cross the Irish Sea to England.
I've no idea why that is and it’s probably not for me to speculate, but if any Irish readers wish to comment I’d be interested to hear your views.