THE VOTE which we cast tomorrow will have the most profound impact on the course of our everyday lives for many decades to come. This referendum is a national vote with international consequences, not just for Ireland but for the European Union at large.
How we, as a people, vote will not just shape Europe's future but define Ireland's place in it. Thanks to our Constitution, which gives each and every one of us of voting age a voice on such important matters, we hold a pivotal position. With that cherished right to vote, however, comes a great personal responsibility.
We will rarely in our lifetimes be asked to make such a momentous decision for so many with the stroke of our own pen. The outcome will determine whether we stay at the centre of EU decision-making or move to the fringes as a marginal player with a declining influence on European affairs. We will decide tomorrow whether the peoples of the 27 member states can proceed with a reform programme to make the EU more efficient and effective in today's uncertain world.
A rejection of the Lisbon Treaty would be bad for Europe and even worse for Ireland. A No majority would leave the Government weakened at home and damaged in Brussels. The new Taoiseach Brian Cowen would have lost the confidence of the Irish people at home and forfeited the goodwill of his European peers. That development would leave Ireland weaker, not stronger, at a time of economic vulnerability given the downturn in the global economy. America is close to recession, global interest rates are rising, and Ireland's short-term economic prospects look bleaker by the day. The unemployment figures, published yesterday, are above 200,000 for the first time in nine years.
Throughout our 35 years of EU membership, the gains for Ireland have far exceeded the losses, notwithstanding whether these are measured in terms of finance, influence, identity or overall development. In plain money terms, if that were to be the base barometer, no other country has done better. Ireland has received twice its payments to the European budget in financial transfers: a net €40 billion. And in those years, the EU has accommodated our differences on issues of national identity - on defence policy and neutrality and our special position on abortion.
Ireland has been one of Europe's great success stories in those years. It has served as an inspiration and a role model for many of the new entrant states from eastern Europe. To reject a treaty that has accommodated our special and sometimes peculiar interests, and which all other member states find acceptable, would be difficult to explain and even harder to justify.
We are now at a crossroads on our European journey, as the Taoiseach said recently. We can take the well- travelled road or embark on a journey without maps into much less familiar territory led by some very strange bedfellows to an unknown destination. Brian Cowen, Enda Kenny, Eamon Gilmore and Mary Harney deserve our trust on this issue.
It is imperative that Ireland votes Yes.