Only a Yes vote on May 31 will help deliver the “stability and certainty that businesses need” and be a “critical step in bringing about the right conditions” for economic growth in Ireland.
This is the view of Fine Gael senator Fidelma Healy Eames who has this week welcomed the call from the Galway Chamber of Commerce for a Yes vote on the EU Fiscal Treaty.
On Monday, the Chambers Ireland network, which represents companies employing more than 500,000 people, and of which the Galway Chamber is a member, met to endorse the treaty and urge the public to vote Yes.
“I am calling for a Yes vote as a step towards a brighter economic future,” said Galway Chamber CEO Michael Coyle. “With confidence and greater levels of economic activity, we can secure the jobs already in place, support local business, and create a better environment for new business start-ups.”
Sen Healy Eames has welcomed the call. “I had no doubt that Galway Chamber, knowing the needs of business big and small as it does, would put its weight behind the treaty,” she said. “They understand that approval is a key step as we rebuild a working Ireland.”
She added that the Yes call from Chambers Ireland shows that “businesses also understand the need to be able to access funding when you need it”.
She said: “Voting Yes to the treaty is the only way to ensure we have access to the ESM, Europe’s new bailout fund, should we need it. Businesses also appreciate the other element of the Treaty - sticking to sensible budget rules.”
The Fine Gael senator has also hit out at Sinn Féin, accusing the party of “taking a fairytale and misleading approach to the ESM” by calling on the Government to “disrupt the establishment of the fund on one hand, while claiming we’ll still be able to access it if we reject the treaty”.
She said: “Why would the Government want to sabotage the establishment of a €700 billion fund that we have been calling for some time? Secondly, the Government does not have a veto on the ESM, as clarified by the Referendum Commission last week.
“The ESM will come into force once countries representing 90 per cent of its capital ratify it. Ireland represents about 1.59 per cent of the fund, thus we have no veto. The only way to guarantee access to the ESM should we ever need it, is to vote Yes to the treaty.”
