Irish recession boosts EU vote's Yes camp: Analysts
The deep recession plaguing Ireland is a boon for the Yes camp in the country's second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty, analysts say.
Experts say voters are seeing the European Union as a potential saviour which can pull the once-booming Ireland out of the financial crisis.
On June 12 last year, 53 percent voted against the reform treaty, but "voting 'no' is a luxury we don't have any more," said Michael Marsh, Professor of Comparative Political Behaviour at Trinity College in Dublin.
Back then, experts did not predict a reverse of the "Celtic Tiger" economy's formidable growth.
Ireland's gross domestic product is set to slump by a record eight percent, while unemployment could top 15 percent -- triple the rate when the first referendum was held.
"We need all the help we can get", Marsh told AFP, ahead of the second referendum to be held on Friday.
"This is not the time to be cutting ourselves off the international organisations."
Peadar O'Broin, a researcher at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin, said: "People have seen the economic security from which Ireland benefits as a member of the EU -- particularly eurozone membership -- through the now infamous comparison between Ireland and Iceland."
The Nordic country, outside the 27-country bloc, has seen its economy collapse and has applied for membership, seeing the EU as a safe haven from the financial storm.
"The economic downturn has made people more aware of the importance of Europe," said Alan Barrett, a research professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, citing "awareness of the support the European Central Bank has given during the banking crisis".
Without the ECB, "not only would our financial system have collapsed but it would have been impossible to repair it", Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said.
The Yes camp is stressing that without the 120 billion euros (176 billion dollars) recently injected by the ECB, Irish banks would probably have had to close.
"The harsh fact was that a 'no' vote would shatter international confidence in the country's ability to confront the financial crisis," Lenihan added.
Paul Duffy, president of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, which numbers some 600 businesses, also warned against a "no" vote.
"We have no doubt that a second rejection of the Lisbon Treaty would inflict a severe injury on the prospects for future foreign direct investment in Ireland," he said.
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