Ireland should debate whether to stay in EU, says union chief

A trade union leader has called for a debate on Ireland leaving the EU. In an address to the biennial conference of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), its president Frank Keoghan said "perhaps the confluence of Brexit and the long-term loss of the country's existing business model will persuade Ireland to consider following Britain out of the EU".

“This will obviously depend on whether Ireland can find an alternative model inside the EU and on whether the euro zone successfully manages the various crises facing it.” .

Mr Keoghan told the conference that Ireland had “a completely unsustainable business model”.

"It offers low corporate tax rates and legal or barely legal tax avoidance to foreign investors. But the ruling by the European Commission to force Apple to pay €13 billion to the Irish Government, Luxleaks, the Panama papers, the Bahamas leaks etc has emboldened the commission to push towards a harmonisation of corporation tax – the CCCTB. And Brussels intends to have the project up and running by 2021."

Mr Keoghan said this was a sign that the Irish model may not be sustainable for much longer, and the situation had been compounded by the victory "of a protectionist Donald Trump whose only mention of Ireland during the campaign was in the context of it being a tax haven".

Immaterial

He said that whether one regarded the EU as on balance a good or bad thing was now essentially immaterial as all Irish people, regardless of their attitudes towards the EU, would be “profoundly affected if Britain withdraws during the next few years”.

"This is because it is the EU acting on the basis of qualified majority voting – in which Ireland has 0.6 per cent of the vote – that will decide Ireland's future relations with both Britain and Northern Ireland – not our Government acting independently."

Mr Keoghan said this new situation called for “hard-headed realism” on the part of Irish policy-makers. He said the EU would no longer be the “cash cow” it had been over recent decades.

“People need to look with fresh eyes at Ireland’s relations with the EU on the one hand and with Britain on the other.”

He said Ireland was now on balance, “a loser, not a gainer, from EU membership”. In 2014 the country became a net contributor to the EU budget for the first time, paying in €1.69 billion and receiving €1.52 billion.

Recycled

“This means that in future any EU moneys that come to the Republic under the CAP, EU cohesion funds, Erasmus programmes, research grants and the like will effectively be Irish taxpayers’ money recycled through Brussels.”

Mr Keoghan said the foreign investment case for Ireland staying in the EU “diminishes significantly if Britain leaves”.

He said with Britain departing, Ireland would lose a vital ally in the fight against EU-imposed tax harmonisation which he expects Germany, France and Italy to push for to prevent other member states from offering lower taxes.

“With an Irish currency based on competitive exchange rates, corporation tax rates at enforceable reasonable levels and a bank credit policy that encouraged investment for productive purposes, Ireland should become significantly more attractive for foreign investment than it if it were to remain in the EU following Britain’s departure.”