A NUMBER of Irish business groups have united in calling for a Yes vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum while Labour Youth also voted over the weekend to support the Yes campaign.
An alliance of business and professional groups announced they have formed the “Business for Europe” group to campaign for a Yes vote.
Members include employers’ group Ibec, the American Chamber of Commerce, the Irish Taxation Institute, the Irish Hotels Federation, Chambers Ireland, the Irish Exporters Association and the Small Firms Association.
In a statement, the new group said that a Yes vote was key to Ireland’s economic future.
Business for Europe has aligned itself with the Ireland for Europe campaign led by the former president of the European Parliament, Pat Cox.
Danny McCoy, director general of Ibec, said it was hugely significant that more than 30 of Ireland’s leading business and employer organisations had come together to campaign for a Yes vote.
“The scale of the global economic crisis has highlighted our vulnerability and the need for a strong Europe so we can together face shared challenges.
“A Yes vote will send a positive signal to foreign investors and to our economic trading partners in the EU. The successful ratification of the treaty is a vital step on the road to Ireland’s economic recovery,” said Mr McCoy.
John Power of the Irish Hotels Federation said a Yes vote would send a strong signal that Ireland remained at the centre of the EU during difficult economic times.
“Our membership of the EU has contributed significantly to Ireland’s past success and boosted our attractiveness as a tourist destination.
The introduction of the euro and enlargement of the EU to the east provided Ireland’s hospitality sector with both stability and significant new business opportunities. The Lisbon Treaty builds on these successful initiatives,” he said.
Labour Youth’s support for the Yes campaign was welcomed by the party’s MEP, Alan Kelly.
“The Lisbon Treaty represents the best hope for young people right now in that we need to remain at the heart of a strong Europe in order for our economy to grow and jobs to be created,” he said.
Labour’s European spokesman, Joe Costello, said the choice was to vote Yes and engage fully with our EU partners, or to vote No and refuse to follow the path of further engagement through the Lisbon Treaty.
“A similar choice faced the Irish people in 1973. We took the decisive step to join the European Economic Community (EEC) at that time and to move forward as partners in Europe. Thus, we decided to leave behind our political isolation and our economic dependency on Britain, said Mr Costello.
He said that Ireland had moved from being an economic satellite of Britain to becoming an equal partner with 26 European countries. “The Eurosceptics in Britain, which include the Conservative Party, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), and the British National Party (BNP) are desperately hoping that Ireland rejects the Lisbon Treaty so that no decision is made on EU Reform before the next British election in 2010,” he said.
Former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes has urged the Government not to allow the referendum campaign to be hijacked by lies again.
“It is so vital that the Government acts now to finally quash the mistruths which permeated the last campaign. I think the Yes side have lost ground already though. The Government must ensure that the debate is about what is in the Lisbon Treaty and not what isn’t,” Mr Dukes said in an interview in SIGNAL, the magazine of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers.
