THE GOVERNMENT’S decision to hold a referendum could have profound consequences for the country’s future prosperity has caused some surprise in other European Union capitals.
In an unexpected intervention in the Dáil yesterday, Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced that a referendum would be held on the European Stability Treaty.
Mr Kenny said he strongly believed that it was “very much in Ireland’s national interest” that the treaty be approved by the people.
No date has been set for the referendum but it is expected to take place in May or June.
The Taoiseach said that he intended to sign the treaty at a meeting with the other EU heads of Government in Brussels on Friday.
He said the Government would finalise the arrangements and the process leading to the referendum in the coming weeks, and a referendum commission would be established.
“I am very confident that when the importance and merit are communicated to the Irish people they will endorse it emphatically by voting yes to continuing economic stability and recovery,” he said.
Mr Kenny said the decision had been taken at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting following the advice of Attorney General Máire Whelan that, as the treaty was outside the EU architecture, on balance a referendum should be held.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said the referendum would come down to a vote for economic growth and stability. “We now have an opportunity to go beyond the casino capitalism,” he said.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin welcomed the decision to hold a referendum and pledged his party’s support for the Yes campaign, but last night his deputy leader Éamon Ó Cuív refused to divulge how he will vote in the referendum.
When asked about his voting intentions on TG4’s Seacht Lá programme, Mr Ó Cuív said: “That is a personal matter for me.”
He said he had stated previously how he had voted and he was not going to make the same mistake again.
This was a reference to his disclosure that he had voted No in the first Nice referendum.
In the Dáil, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams accused the Government of trying to avoid a referendum and said the fact that it was now going to be held represented a failure for the Coalition.
Speaking on behalf of the technical group, South Dublin TD Shane Ross also expressed opposition to the treaty, saying it was a formula for austerity which had been dictated by the Germans and the French.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said he would be asking his party to support the treaty as it was in the national interest.
In Berlin, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said the German leader had “taken note” of the referendum decision but “would not comment on sovereign Irish decisions”. It was a line repeated by all political parties in Germany.
However, Dr Michael Meister, a budget and finance spokesman for Dr Merkel’s ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) said: “Whoever doesn’t accept the treaty has no protection from the ESM bailout fund. If the Irish people think they don’t need any ESM protection they can, of course, reject the fiscal treaty.”
Dr Günther Krichbaum, CDU European spokesman in parliament, said the question Ireland had to vote on was: “Do we want to stand together, do we want a stable and prospering union from which future generations can benefit?”
A senior Minister said last night that the Cabinet had not got around to considering the date for the referendum but he expected that it would be around the beginning of June. He was adamant that no other referendum would be held on the same date.
The formal process will begin with the publication of a referendum Bill containing the wording of the constitutional amendment to be voted on by the people.
The Bill will have to be passed by both houses of the Oireachtas before the campaign proper begins.
A second draft Bill to give effect to the treaty if the referendum is passed will be published at the same time.
Once the referendum Bill is passed, an order setting the date for polling will be made.
It must be within 30-90 days of the order being made. A referendum commission will be established at the same time.