TREATY CHANGE:A SENIOR Minister has said that while the Government does not want to hold a referendum on further change to the European treaty, it would not "dismiss it sight unseen".
Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte said the treaty changes being proposed by German chancellor Angela Merkel to increase fiscal supervision across the euro zone needed to be examined closely. Such a treaty would likely lead to a dilution of sovereignty by states including Ireland in relation to fiscal autonomy.
“I have great confidence in the sense of the Irish people. If there was an alleviation of debt burden through treaty change, we would have to look at it. I wouldn’t dismiss it without knowing what it would offer to the Irish people,” Mr Rabbitte told RTÉ yesterday.
He was speaking ahead of the meeting between Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Dr Merkel.
Opposition parties and TDs reacted with a mix of caution and outright opposition.
Dara Calleary of Fianna Fáil said it was evident there had been a failure in European governance over the past three years, which had been glaringly exposed over the past two months. “If Germany requests treaty change we cannot say no automatically without first having studied the proposals.” However, he said there was a need for realism and it would take a dramatic benefit to overcome scepticism about passing another referendum on European integration.
Striking a cautious note, Mr Calleary said: “We were given an assurance in Lisbon Two that it was to be the last treaty change for 10 years. There has also been a distinct change of attitude to Europe in the past 12 months.”
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said the transfer of more power to Europe would be a bad blow for Ireland. “Based on the type of discussion they are having at this time about fiscal consolidation, it seems more sovereignty will be lost. That would be wrong for treaty change to be run on that basis.”
Independent TD Stephen Donnelly said Ireland was entering “very dangerous territory”. “We are coming under immense pressure to become a state within a federal Europe, with no control of monetary policy and limited control of fiscal policy. Once you lose those two things, it is very difficult to claim with any credibility that you are an independent state,” said the Wicklow Deputy.
The Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins said the German chancellor was putting Ireland under huge pressure. “It is an intensification process, where the economical dictatorship in place already is turning into a political dictatorship.”
In an Ipsos/MRBI poll for The Irish Timeslast month, some 47 per cent of voters said they would vote No to any amendment to the Lisbon Treaty to extend the powers of the EU to deal with the financial crisis.