GENERAL SECRETARY of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions David Begg said the European Central Bank might not sustain its level of co-operation with Ireland if the Lisbon Treaty was rejected.
Mr Begg said he was reluctant to put forward arguments about the consequences of not accepting the treaty “because people immediately accuse you of scare tactics and I understand the sensitivity of all of that”.
Mr Begg was speaking at a debate in Dublin hosted by Thomson Reuters.
“The European Central Bank in the last year has given an enormous amount of support to this country in terms of liquidity assistance to the banking system, over and above I would think what we could reasonably have expected,” he said.
“I think that level of co-operation would not be available in the future.”
Mr Begg said claims being made about threats to the minimum wage and workers’ rights were not sustainable.
“There are threats to workers’ rights in this current climate in which we live, but they don’t, in fact, come from the treaty.
“The treaty, I would argue, has, in fact, the potential to improve the situation of workers here in this country.”
Also participating in the debate were Minister of State for European Affairs Dick Roche, Sinn Féin vice-president and former MEP Mary Lou McDonald and United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage.
Mr Roche said Ireland’s experience in Europe had been almost universally positive and, referring to the guarantees secured by the Government, said the EU had not only listened but had done precisely what the people of Ireland had asked.
“The guarantees are as cast iron as they can be...the union’s response couldn’t have been better.”
He described Mr Farage as “a narrow, bigoted, jingoist, peddling an intolerant Little Englander’s view of the world”.
Mr Farage claimed Mr Roche’s comments showed that he was frightened, and said he suspected they were motivated by malice rather than ignorance.
He said “nothing awful” would happen to the Irish people if they voted No in the upcoming referendum.
Ms McDonald said there was now a “cleavage” between the establishment view and ordinary people in Ireland.
She said she found the statements on some of the Yes side posters to be “deeply spurious and cynical”.
Meanwhile, in Co Wexford the Taoiseach has said a Yes vote would play “a central part in ensuring a national economic recovery”.
Speaking during a visit to the DunbrodyFamine ship in New Ross, Co Wexford, Mr Cowen said "there is no objective reason" why people should not "look afresh at this treaty" given the guarantees secured from Brussels by the Government.