Gilmore says Ireland may need another EU referendum

IRELAND MAY face another EU treaty referendum, said Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore.

He said heads of state and Government would have to arrive at a conclusion that was guaranteed to restore confidence in the euro, domestically and internationally, not least in financial markets.

They could, he said, afford to fall short of expectations and must be prepared to do whatever it took, regardless of the inconvenience. In certain circumstances, that might involve treaty change.

“If, despite the concerns of many in Irish politics, we find ourselves obliged to have another referendum in this country on the EU treaties, then so be it,’’ he added.

If that was what Ireland had to do to save its currency, to restore its economy, to be able, as a sovereign nation, to borrow again on the financial markets, and to ensure that no future government could ever again bring Ireland to such a sorry state, then there should be no fear in putting that choice to the Irish people, said Mr Gilmore.

There were no easy alternatives regardless of what the Opposition and some political commentators might suggest, he said. “Yes, we want to be ourselves again, to regain control of our own affairs and we will if this Government has anything to do with it,’’ he added.

“To be alone in our current circumstances would be a very cold, lonely and penurious place to be.’’ It was important for Ireland to ensure that the integrity of the EU, at the level of 27 member states, was maintained.

That view was not born out of some starry-eyed sense of Europe or the EU, said Mr Gilmore. One of the cornerstones of the EU was the single market of 500 million people, which was by far the biggest market for our traded goods and services, must not be allowed to be compromised. Mr Gilmore was responding to a private members’ motion from the Technical Group demanding that Taoiseach Enda Kenny resist all efforts to force Ireland into a fiscal union at the EU summit in Brussels.

Shane Ross (Ind) said he was worried Mr Kenny would be powerless in the negotiations he would enter into in the next few days: “The record of the Government on negotiations with the EU, the troika and others in recent months has been feeble and craven.’’

Maureen O’Sullivan (Ind) said she never supported being in Europe: “I voted against the Nice treaty and the two Lisbon treaties. I have always felt there were threats to, or an undermining of, our identity, independence and our capacity to manage our own affairs.’’

Thomas Pringle (Ind) said the EU was in an epic crisis. “It is not of our making, as the Taoiseach acknowledged in his state of the nation address, yet he is forcing the Irish people to pay for reckless lending.’’