Voteyes.ie

…no not of Europe if we do the wrong thing but of yet another Irish Euro Referendum. We really are gluttons for punishment. 1973, SEA, Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice (twice) and now Lisbon twice. That’s eight versions of more or less, give or take, the same bleedin’ question! I regularly explain to people overseas that if you can’t explain the EU’s (or any particular treaties) benefits simply to people on the street then it’s not worth having. There seems to be only so far you can take this though. “It’s all vey complicated people say” OK here’s a shortened version “don’t patronise me” they reply. The Title by Title version produced here took about 2-3 hours overall…seriously it’s not that bad.

It would be nice to have a final trump card to play in the campaign or unearth a new article to win the day. The truth is far more boring and this was never the idea of the blog. Lisbon is a modest progressive set of reforms which will make the EU more efficient and democratic that’s still really it. It seems anything can be put on a poster now in referendum campaigns. Why dies Europe need 8 referendums but NAMA, the Finance Act and The Mc Carthy report don’t. Maybe we need to think it out again.

The constant fascination with what happens if we both No is a bit annoying but Yes campaigners have finally realised the honest answer of “nobody knows” is better than the Euro bogey man will get us. In fact the Euro bogey man might be preferable as we could send Joe Higgins, Patricia Mc Kenna and Coir out to defend us with non militarised pea shooters! The truth is probably more worrying, nobody really knows.

Business as usual? Maybe for a year or two but the push for reform will continue and no amount of whinging about being the only country to have referendums will matter when the changes come. I would certainly concur that enhanced co-operation will be used more under the current treaties and after that who knows. But don’t we want to know? Isn’t political stability and certainty an element of economic recovery?

Another blogger has said it’s like throwing rocks at the fire brigade…I like the analogy. Anyway do we want another 5 or six years talking about institutions and voting weights and QMV. What people want is the EU to help solve the big problems that member states can’t deal with like climate change, cross border crime and unemployment. Settling the interminable institutional questions will allow this to happen.

I’m not convinced the general standard of debate was much improved this time not to mention the overall knowledge or understanding of Europe but we can but hope. About 7,500 people happened by hear though so hopefully that was useful.