JOAN BURTON’S linking of better terms for Ireland’s bank debt with the fiscal treaty referendum is causing problems for the Government’s campaign, her Labour colleagues have claimed.
Labour Ministers are angry over remarks Ms Burton made in recent days. The Minister for Social Protection has twice linked a reduction in Ireland’s bank debt burden to support for the Yes side.
However, Government sources yesterday told The Irish Times while they are confident a deal reducing the debt will be reached, it is unlikely to be finalised before the vote.
“Joan has deliberately created unnecessary difficulties for the Government and you would have to wonder what game she is playing,” said one senior Labour Party figure.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin delivered a more restrained rebuke, saying an ultimatum on bank debt wouldn’t work. He said from its first day in office the Government had been working on the debt issue “not in a loud way but in a determined way”.
Mr Howlin said the view expressed last week by the International Monetary Fund about the need for a reduction in Ireland’s debt was helpful. “These things don’t happen by happenstance. They are the product of months of careful explanation and engagement,” he said.
“Institutions like the IMF and the European Commission don’t operate on the basis of ultimatums. They operate on the basis of logic and reason, and we have a unique opportunity to convince them we will succeed in our economy and get a solvent Ireland back.”
No date has yet been set for the referendum. There is little support at Cabinet for leaving it until autumn and, with events such as the Eucharistic Congress and Euro 2012 in June, the mood appears to favour a May contest.
Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan is expected to write to Chief Justice Ms Susan Denham this week asking her to nominate a judge to head the Referendum Commission.
The Cabinet will discuss the referendum at its meeting tomorrow. Ministers will look at a timetable for the Referendum Bill, which will have to be passed by the Dáil and Seanad in advance of polling. Voting will take place 30-90 days after that.
The wording of the constitutional amendment to be put to the electorate will be short. The question will ask for a Yes or No to the insertion in the Constitution of a clause approving the treaty. The details of the fiscal compact will not be included in the Constitution but contained in a separate Bill to be put to the Dáil and Seanad if the people say Yes.
The first opinion polls since the referendum announcement have put the Yes side in the lead, but there is solid support for the No campaign. A Red C poll in the Sunday Business Post put the Yes vote at 44 per cent, No at 29 per cent, with 26 per cent undecided. A Millward Brown/ Lansdowne poll in the Sunday Independent gave Yes 37 per cent, No 26 per cent, and undecided 36 per cent.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin reiterated his party’s support for the Yes campaign. “This has always been a pro-EU party and we are not going to change that now.” He added it was “the right thing to do for Ireland”.
Fine Gael is treating the campaign as if it was a general election. Meath East TD and Minister of State for the Department of Agriculture Shane McEntee said the party in his constituency was already gearing up for it: “We will mobilise our party members and supporters to knock on doors, deliver leaflets, put up posters and meet the people as if we were fighting an election campaign.”