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Dublin: 10 °C Thursday 23 May, 2013

Referendum roundup: 10 days to go

Austerity treaty, stability treaty, or somewhere in between? TheJournal.ie keeps you up to date with our evening Fiscal Compact referendum bulletin.

There's just no escaping the posters: walkers in north Dublin yesterday
There's just no escaping the posters: walkers in north Dublin yesterday
Image: Photocall Ireland

EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the latest news and campaign moves, squabbles and – hopefully – useful tidbits of information as we face into the 31 May Fiscal Compact referendum.

(If you just want to make up your mind by yourself, you can read TheJournal.ie’s layman’s guide to the treaty).

WHAT’S NEW?

Libertas founder and No vote campaigner Declan Ganley has denied claims that there is a conflict of interest in his involvement in a Swiss asset management fund and his advocating of a No vote on the 31 May. He was responding to a claim from Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohue, calling the claim “a lie”.

Otherwise, it’s been a day of relative quiet in the campaign trenches, with both sides keeping their heads down ahead of the RTÉ Frontline debate at 9.35pm. We’ll be liveblogging all the action here at TheJournal.ie as Eamon Gilmore, Mary Lou McDonald, Declan Ganley and Norah Casey go head-to-head.

One man who doesn’t know the meaning of keeping his head down is Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary. He made his position perfectly clear this morning, telling CNBC he’d be voting Yes and claiming: “When you look at the array of idiots and lunatics on the No side, I wouldn’t want to be in any club that would have that lot as a member.”

Meanwhile, the Government has been accused of remaining “unable to identify any positive benefits” of the Treaty by Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, who said that the Yes campaign had been left behind by developments across the EU.

Enda Kenny ran into protests while attending an event at a Donegal school – with Newstalk reporting that his car was pelted with eggs by demonstrators.

It’s been officially confirmed that ballot-counting will begin as usual at 9am on Friday, June 1. As is traditional, the media scrum will be descending on Dublin Castle for the occasion.

DUBIOUS VOTER OF THE DAY

Ógra Fianna

Well, strictly speaking this is from yesterday, when Ógra Fianna Fáil launched their campaign. It looks like they might have a bit more work to do to convince this council worker. (Photo: Conor McCabe Photography)

MOST UNMISTAKEABLY IRISH WEATHER IN A CAMPAIGN VIDEO OF THE DAY

Hats (and wellies) off to these redoubtable Sinn Féin volunteers, who assembled on Sandymount Strand in frankly miserable conditions for this promotional spot:


YouTube/sinnfeinireland

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT OF THE DAY-EYE-AY-EYE-AY

Photo1

Sharon Shannon is voting Yes, according to the Alliance for Ireland ad in today’s Irish Independent. (Photo: TheJournal.ie)

DEFINITELY NOT SCAREMONGERING TWEET OF THE DAY

NICEROADS

Anything but that…

Read in full: The Fiscal Compact Treaty in laymans’ terms (PDF)>

Read more: TheJournal.ie’s coverage of the Fiscal Compact referendum>

Read next:

Comments (15 Comments)

  • Vote No !

    Reply
  • Hi Sharon if you met my two nephews in Austraila tell them I said hi and to stay where they are . I am voting no

    Reply
  • There is no reason in the world to vote yes there is nothing in it for us. A blank cheque for the banks, infinite greed and stupidity

    Reply
  • I was very disappointed to see Sharon Shannon go over to the greedy pro-banker brigade. It’s not as if she has anything to say on the subject, just stick your name and your picture here and we’ll pay you. Disgusting.

    Reply
  • Sharon Shannon
    Stick to singing . I will be voting NO to keep my children from having to emmigrate . Thank you for the music but I will not be buying any more of your cd’s , I wont be able to afford them if the yes vote ”wins” because all of us ordinary people not earning millions will be broke indefinitely.

    Reply
  • Why. Do RTE pamper Declan Ganley ? Who is he ? An unelected man with his own party.

    Reply
    • Economic historian, Prof. Niall Ferguson has pointed out that no nation in 200 years has sustained the level of debt Ireland has without either default or devaluation or both.
      Devaluation is not possible unless Ireland leaves or is forced out of the Euro.
      The EU/ECB will not countenance an Irish default or restructuring.

      Here Ferguson discusses the last nation to sustain debt exceeding it’s GDP. Industrial revolution Britain 1815.

      “Britain paid down its debt through growth and running primary budget surpluses. There was no default. There was no inflation. But this, unfortunately, is the only case history offers us.

      “And, remember, Britain did have some unusual advantages at that time. It was, or course, the first country to enjoy an Industrial Revolution. It had the world’s biggest empire to draw on, and it had an undemocratic franchise throughout the period, which means the propertied were represented and the propertyless essentially were not. That makes it much easier to make tough fiscal decisions, believe me.”

      Reply
  • were in for a hard time either way vote no and Noonan and his hench men will forcefully take our hard earned cash vote yes the eu will..IL be Irish and stubborn vote no sur if it gets to bad leave Ireland like the thousands who already left..why are the blue shirts bending over so easy?

    Reply
    • Is it that easy to just leave, yeah? What about people like that are no longer 25? Fcuk us and into an old folks home or what?

      Reply
    • Yes or NO
      By Joe Mc Dermott in vote NO in fiscal treaty referendum · Edit doc · Delete
      If we vote yes in the forthcoming referendum what exactly are we getting..?

      We will be agreeing to a set of economic rules as set out in articles 3,4 and 5 of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union

      We will also be agreeing to add a clause to article 29.4 of the Irish Constitution which states,
      The state may ratify the Treaty on Stability,Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union done at Brussels on the 2nd day of March 2012. No provision of this Constitution invalidates laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the State that are necessitated by the obligations of the State under that Treaty or prevents laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by bodies competent under that Treaty from having the force of law in the state. which basically means that european law is above our constitutional law.

      We will also be agreeing to allow ART. 136 of the TFEU to be put into European law and gives the European Court of Justice jurisdiction over our laws.

      If we fail to meet the targets set out in the treaty, a correction mecanism is introduced and obliges us to implement changes to correct the shortfall, and gives the ECJ jursdiction over our laws,ART 8, fines can be imposed and can compel us to change budgets to meet targets, as of ART 3.

      You will be Agreeintg to the EU having control over our Budget as set out in ART 5 of the Treaty

      You will be agreeing to commit to reducing Gov debt over a 20 year period as set out in ART 4.

      You will be agreeing to ART 9 which states everyone must work jointly towords Ecomonic policy thats fair on all member states. (Corporate Tax law)

      and ART 11, which binds us to produce all reforms before the EU,, ie. Budgets…

      And ART 16 which says it will be written into EU law within 5 yrs..

      If you vote NO, what will you get,

      All of the above except for changes to the Constitution which will keep the EU out of our affairs,

      It will allow us to elect a Government on a democratic basis that does not have the EU managing our budgets, (whats the point in electing a GOV if they have no control over the purse strings)

      It will stop the European Court of Justice from having jurisdiction over us.

      It will not allow ART 136 to introduce the ESM and makes it invalid

      It will stop ART 16 from becoming EU law, (unconstitutional)

      It will protect our Corporate Tax laws

      Reply
  • I was always going to vote no, but now that I see Ganley is campaigning no, I’m not too sure anymore. I’d really think one should always do the opposite of what he advocates.

    Reply
  • Declan Ganley says vote no.
    Those disaster capitalists just love disaster
    You could see him on Frontline lip-smacking content, high on the whiff of chaos.
    Also comical to see a man who recruited an unsavoury bunch of extremists, racists and anti-semites feign indignation about alleged xenophobia.
    But Nora Dragon was not referring to Ganley’s origins but to his opportunism when she commented that he only popped up somewhat suspiciously during referenda.
    She made that clear to him during the Frontline ad break.
    Here’s a portrait of the disaster capitalist:
    http://barringtonkevin.blogspot.com/2012/05/declan-ganley-portait-of-disaster.html

    Reply

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