KEY FIGURES involved in the campaign that led to a Yes vote in the second Lisbon Treaty referendum have cautioned against another referendum on an EU treaty for a long time to come.
The leaders of “Ireland for Europe”, the campaign group which played a large part in securing a Yes vote last October, warned that serious lessons need to be learned by Irish politicians and the EU itself from the experience.
Former European Parliament president Pat Cox, UCD vice-president Prof Brigid Laffan, and Brendan Halligan, chairman of the Institute of International and European Affairs, made their observations in a book about the campaign. The title, Saying Yes: How Ireland Reclaimed its Future in Europe, is edited by broadcaster Caroline Erskine, the campaign's communications director, and was launched by Mary Davis, chair of the Office of Active Citizenship.
Brendan Halligan the campaign’s co-ordinator, argued that the time had come to rethink the holding of repeated referendums in this country.
“Ireland has become a referendum country by accident. This is no way to run our national affairs, especially on the one issue that affects us most, membership of the European Union,” he wrote. “Experience with referenda on European treaties is that the campaign becomes a contest between the extremes and the centre,” said Mr Halligan, who added that the centre was notoriously difficult to motivate and then mobilise.
Prof Laffan warned against any further treaty reform for some time to come. “The EU must now work with the treaties and institutions that it already has for at least 15 years, as both the domestic systems and Europe’s electorates cannot cope with further treaty change.
“The EU must turn to doing business rather than debating how it should do its business,” she said.
Mr Cox said Ireland had to raise its game if it was to compete in the 21st-century global economy, and said the country had much to learn from our EU neighbours.
“We need to reform and modernise our local government, our public services and our politics. We need to rediscover the vitality of vision and values as an antidote to jaded pragmatism and tired institutions. In short, we need to contemplate the renewal of our Republic, a project in which active citizenship could play a leading role. We have learned a lesson through Ireland for Europe, and proved a point that politics alone does not contain all the answers,” he said.
The book is on sale at: irelandforeurope.ie