Scotland can follow Irish route to success - your views Scotland can follow Irish route to success When David Smith (letters, December 24) writes that Scotland does four times more trade with the UK than the EU, he should study the case of Ireland, which as an independent country in the EU now has a higher GDP (wealth) per head than the UK. When Ireland joined the European Economic Community in 1973, 55 per cent of exports went to the UK. This has since dropped to nine per cent, while the EU now accounts for almost half of all Irish exports. Instead of queues and red tape at Dover, Ireland has established numerous ferry routes to France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal whereas Scotland relies on three sailings a week from Rosyth to Zeebrugge.