Ireland's European Commissioners, past and present, have collectively urged a Yes vote in the Nice referendum.
The call was made at a rare gathering of the current and former top officials organised by the European Movement Ireland in Dublin yesterday.
Recalling the motivation behind the original application for European Community membership, the first Irish Commissioner and former President, Dr Patrick Hillery, said the population had been declining rapidly due to emigration. "It seemed to us to be a great opportunity," Dr Hillery said. The weakness of the Irish economy was a drawback in negotiating to have Ireland accepted as a member of the then EEC.
Dr Hillery recalled: "We had not been in the war and European countries felt that maybe Ireland did not have the commitment to this totally new structure of Europe."
As with the Nice Treaty, there was confusion over the issues during the referendum on membership. "Members of the Dáil said, 'We don't understand what we are campaigning about'," Dr Hillery said.
Yesterday there was a surprisingly poor turnout of just over 60 people, including media representatives, in the ballroom of the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin to hear the Commissioners on the topic, "Nice - What is at Stake?"
Mr Richard Burke, who served on the Commission twice, praised the structure of the EU, which helped ensure "that the big would not swamp the small".
The former agriculture Commissioner, Mr Ray MacSharry, said: "We have to put on record the massive success that the EU has been." Unfortunately, that success had not been communicated in detail to the people of Europe.
"I can't think of one reason why people should vote No," he continued. Outlining the benefits for Ireland in general and the farming community in particular, he said: "A Yes vote will help us to retain our goodwill and influence."
Dr Peter Sutherland said that as someone who lived largely outside Ireland, the result of the first Nice referendum was an "immense shock" to him.
Recalling the "apocalyptic visions" of those who opposed European treaties of far more substance, he said that if there was an argument against the Nice Treaty it would be that it was limited in its ambition.
The Irish were perceived as "Europeans in good standing" because of their positive approach in the whole process. Ireland's gross domestic product had risen from 61 per cent of the EU average to 128 per cent.
Pointing to examples of generosity on the part of Ireland's EU partners, he said: "We have got the 'rub of the green' and have been given exceptional treatment."
He noted that the current GDP of the Czech Republic, one of the applicant countries, was 60 per cent of the EU average, with Hungary at 51 per cent and Slovenia at 70 per cent.
"It is beyond question that if we were to vote No again there would be at the very least a period of significant delay and confusion."
He was "stunned" at the apparent lack of recognition of how much Ireland had gained. "For us to do anything other than to vote Yes would be catastrophic," Dr Sutherland said.
Mr Pádraig Flynn said that, "In a very real way, the EU has become a powerful background presence in the lives of all the citizens of Europe."
The European social model had been "heavily, even hugely, influenced by Ireland."
"The Nice Treaty offers us the opportunity to affirm our belief in Europe," he said. It was about influence and goodwill and rejecting the treaty would result in a "harder attitude" towards Ireland in the EU.
The gathering was held on the initiative of Ireland's serving Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, who urged people to compare Europe with the "war wreckage" of 1945 and compare present-day Ireland with the "stagnation" of the 1970s.
Enlargement could "more accurately" be described as the reunification of Europe. Nice was not a major treaty but its effects were major. The referendum was not the opportunity for resolving concerns of a "purely domestic nature". Warning against a rejection of Nice, he said: "Which of us without shame could justify such an outcome?"
Commissioner Byrne added: "We have a duty to vote and an onus to vote Yes."