McCarthy speech is talk of the town

THE FISCAL treaty referendum will be over by Friday – but the postmortems will only have begun.

For an insightful and erudite analysis of the first referendum polls, and the European crisis in general, one of the hottest tickets in town will be to attend economist Colm McCarthy’s address at the annual lunch of small and medium-sized enterprise group Isme.

It will take place at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin on Friday. Already more than 400 Isme members have bought tickets for the event.

In his speech, McCarthy – author of the “An Bord Snip Nua” report – will outline his take on the crisis so far and give advice to small and medium enterprises for the future.

He will be fresh back from Greece where he has been carrying out work for the troika, so he is expected to speak on the harsh realities facing that country and what could face Ireland.

At the event, McCarthy will also be presented with the SME medal for his work in relation to this business sector and the economy.

He follows in the footsteps of Ivan Yates, Denis O’Brien and The Irish Times business section’s own Dan O’Brien in receiving this award.