A NO vote in the upcoming fiscal treaty referendum would make it far more likely that Ireland would need a second bailout, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.
Mr Gilmore said the State was on target to leave the IMF programme at the end of next year and therefore would not need a second bailout.
He was responding to comments from senior Fianna Fáil figures who predicted another bailout was likely.
“If we don’t pass the stability treaty I think it’s far more likely that we would need a bailout and of course in those circumstances we wouldn’t have access to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). So you would have the worst of both worlds,” said Mr Gilmore.
The European Stability Mechanism creates a permanent €500 billion European bailout fund.
Mr Gilmore said the Government’s consistent objective had been to get out of the programme by the end of 2013.
But to do that there had to be confidence in the country and that was why “it’s important that the stability [fiscal] treaty is passed”.
The fiscal treaty obliges member states to keep budget deficits and public debts within tight limits.
Mr Gilmore said a stimulus package was being worked on by the Coalition, although it was never intended as something that was related to the treaty.
He added that the referendum campaign was entering a second, more intensive phase during which Labour’s strategy was to “give a little bit of extra ‘oomph’ for the final 10 or 11 days”. An additional 10,000 Labour posters would be erected nationwide.
Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath echoed party leader Micheál Martin’s comments when he said the State was likely to need another bailout.
“We need to recognise that there’s a distinct possibility . . . that Ireland will require access to the ESM, which you may call a second bailout, sometime next year,” he said.
Sinn Féin continued to appeal for a No vote. Party spokesman on jobs Peadar Tóibín said rejecting the pact would be a vote for a new approach to the euro zone crisis.
“There is now an urgent need to send the Government a clear signal that austerity is not working. A strong No vote on May 31st will send such a signal . . . for investment in jobs and growth,” Mr Tóibín said.
Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton, who last week retracted a comment that raised the prospect of a referendum rerun in the event of a No vote, said it was “categorically true” that Ireland would not have access to funding if the treaty was not supported.
“That is there in black and white,” he told The Week in Politics on RTÉ 1 last night.
The Government will continue to advance the case for growth at the EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, said Mr Gilmore.
He expected a discussion at the summit on proposals advanced by Ireland, which he hoped would be “taken forward and worked upon” ahead of the June summit where they would be formally considered.
“One of those is the idea of eurobonds, a wider role for the European Investment Fund . . . a concentration on measures that are required to address youth unemployment in particular,” he said.
He also expected discussion on “measures that are required to provide more credit for small and medium-sized businesses. The fact I think that there is a more receptive audience for those proposals is something that we very much welcome.”
Meanwhile, the panel for a referendum debate on tonight’s Frontline programme on RTÉ 1 has been announced.
It comprises Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore; Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary-Lou McDonald; publishing entrepreneur Norah Casey of Dragons’ Den; and Libertas founder Declan Ganley.
