We're back and here's why

First things first, we don’t “love” this Treaty. It’s not the kind of agreement that makes us jump for joy and punch the air. “Finally, a solution to all our problems!” is a phrase you’re unlikely to read on this site.

But after taking the time to read carefully through the text, research the economic, legal and political arguments, we have no doubt that voting Yes is the right thing to do.

Why?

Because – and here’s some positive news – the content of the Treaty is actually a short list of pretty sensible rules that make sure governments spend money wisely.

It also has to be said – no matter which way you look at it – that Ireland needs a huge amount of funding to keep the country running next year. And this isn’t cash to bail out more banks. This is cash to pay the teachers, nurses, doctors and to pay for social welfare too. We can’t get at that cash without approving the treaty.

25 European countries have clubbed together and come up with 750 billion Euro to lend to countries in trouble like us. In return, everyone (not just Ireland) is signing up to rules that make sure Government spending doesn’t spiral out of control leading to a debt-trap. We’ll get into the detail on the site later (we’ve got our nerdy economists to examine it in detail) but this is a pretty fair deal.

It’s not “permanent austerity” to say that states shouldn’t have debt that gets out of control. It’s not “permanent austerity” to say that if a country finds itself having debt greater than its entire annual output, it should try and reduce that gradually over time. And it’s not “permanent austerity” for European countries to say: “You’re in a tough spot and we’re prepared to lend you hundreds of billions of Euro at cheap interest rates to pay your bills but in return, we should all agree to reduce our debt to manageable levels.”

Let’s be clear that there are a whole lot of things that Europe needs to do to fix this crisis and budget rules alone won’t solve it. There’s a need for a Europe-wide stimulus plan, there’s a need for the ECB to regulate all banks – so if a bank goes under, they take the hit – and there’s a need for real investment in infrastructure that can create jobs. The good news is that the tide is turning in our favour. Francois Hollande has just been elected in France and he’s thinking along these lines. In fact, most countries seem to coming around to this way of thinking.

But voting No to the Stability Treaty won’t help us get to these solutions. This is the scary bit, but we think you’re big enough to handle it: voting No will mean more austerity as the state finds it harder – if not impossible – to find the funding elsewhere. Voting No will mean international markets will lose even more faith in the survival of the Euro as a whole and Ireland in particular. Voting No will also mean that a break-up of the Euro is more likely as Germans begin to think their fears – that some countries are simply allergic to sensible budgeting and debt reduction – were true all along. Once they reach that point the question becomes how to break up a relationship that just can’t work. Scary, we know, but we warned you.

We’re not going to waste your time with slogans like “Yes to Jobs”, with baseless threats or with poorly informed statements. We’re not going to pretend this treaty fixes all our problems. We want to present the facts on this site in a no-nonsense way and we are determined to take on lies and mistruths that anyone else (Yes or No) spreads in the campaign.

Ultimately we all face an important decision on May 31st. In our view, voting Yes is the best chance to protect Ireland from even more austerity and it’s a necessary step to building confidence in the Euro and getting us closer to the kind of growth and stimulus we so badly need.

We’ll be adding more content to this site over the coming weeks so take the time to have a look and think it over. You can get involved in the discussions on the facebook page and maybe even come along to some of the events we’ll be running later in the month. If you want to get involved and help out, just get in touch by sending us a message on facebook.

Thanks for visiting and don’t forget to vote on May 31st!