Our Perspectives
Are we sleep walking towards disaster in Lisbon II?
31 August 2009
Martha Kavanagh
In a recent media interview, Hugh Cooney, the chairman of Enterprise Ireland succinctly described the decisions to be made over the course of the next 100 days - which will see the Government attempt to pass the legislation on Nama through the Oireachtas, re-run the Lisbon Treaty referendum and deliver the December Budget after the deliberations of the Commission on Taxation and An Bord Snip Nua - as definitive for our economy.
Without underestimating the importance of Nama or the forthcoming Budget, the decision which faces the Irish people on the Lisbon Treaty is equally critical as it will define our engagement with the EU, our largest single trading partner where 60% of everything this island produces is sold, for generations to come.
The most recent TNS MRBI poll on Lisbon in May this year suggested that there had been an increase in support for the Yes side and a small decrease in the No vote. The failure of Declan Ganley and Libertas to make a significant breakthrough in the European elections in June and the absence of the organisation in this referendum campaign means that a significant thorn has been removed from the Yes campaign’s side. Coupled with the continued steady flow of negative economic news over the summer, a Yes vote would seem like a no-brainer if we are to get the economy back on track and ultimately avoid the fate of the likes of Iceland.
In recent weeks, however, momentum has been growing behind the No campaign, which has found an articulate and energetic spokesperson in the shape of Joe Higgins MEP. Despite the emergence of a number of civil liberties groups including 'We Belong’ and 'Ireland for Europe’ who have begun to campaign enthusiastically for the Yes side, there remains a vacuum in the debate at a political level as our public representatives focus on point scoring over Nama, which seems to be the only show in town at the moment.
No one doubts the importance of Nama – the debate is intensely spirited despite its complexity. While there is no point in peaking too soon on Lisbon, too far in advance of voting day, if Nama continues to distract our politicians and contributes towards another lacklustre and unfocused Lisbon campaign, it will have disastrous consequences. It is the unappealing prospect of that cold and lonely place we will occupy outside the centre of the European project and the associated loss of influence which should have our politicians taking a deep breath, steadying themselves and throwing themselves behind the Yes campaign without hesitation or reservation. This needs to happen, no matter what frosty reception awaits Fianna Fail and Green Party TDs on the doorsteps and no matter what political hay there is to be made elsewhere by the Opposition parties.
It is time for our politicians – including both a badly demoralised Government and an Opposition with the scent of blood in its nostrils - to put aside political point scoring and deliver a coherent, energetic and committed campaign that delivers a Yes vote and ensures that Ireland stays at the heart of Europe.
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