McCreevy warns of No dangers

EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy has warned of the potential damage to Ireland's image among international investors if the country votes No in the Lisbon Treaty referendum.

Speaking at a seminar in Dublin hosted by  law firm Eversheds O'Donnell Sweeney, Mr McCreevy said that as the ballot boxes are opened on October 3rd, the focus of the international media on Ireland will be intense.

“You don't need to be a clairvoyant to imagine how Ireland will be presented by those competing with us for foreign direct investment and jobs in the international market if there is a No vote,” he said.

He claimed that for the past few years some very influential parts of the international financial press have taken every opportunity “to do this country down”.

“Be in no doubt: They will use a No vote on October 2nd to stir up speculation about this country being forced out – or being forced to the margins - of the European Union and use this to highlight the risks for international investment in Ireland,” he warned.

"At a time when international confidence in Ireland has never been so fragile we simply cannot afford doubts or more negative perceptions to take hold or indeed to be reinforced."

Mr McCreevy said sentiment and perception very often trumped fact and reality. The Commissioner said when he was in Tokyo shortly after the last referendum, he was asked by Japanese businessmen if Ireland was leaving the EU.

While he had never been prepared to swallow the “Europhiles' agenda” whole, nor was he "misty-eyed" about Brussels, he said.

Mr McCreevy told the seminar that he had never been afraid to gamble politically or otherwise but he believed that a No vote in this referendum would be “a gamble too far”.

"I must tell you that I honestly believe that the risk that international investors would take fright over a very short space of time in the aftermath of a No vote is an unacceptably high risk at a time when our government, our banks and our businesses need to raise more international capital than ever," he said.

He exhorted voters to pass the treaty, saying that however alienated or angry people might feel currently “they should not bite off their nose to spite their face or tighten the noose around the country's neck by conveying the wrong signal to international decision makers who looked to Ireland as a place for possible future investment”.

Earlier today, Mr McCreevy warned against complacency in the run up to the referendum vote.

He said prior to the  vote last year the Yes side were very complacent because all the political parties and media were supporting the adoption of the treaty. "Then the anti-side got traction in the campaign which they held until the close of polls," he said.

He said he believed people on the Yes side had definitely made up their mind on this occasion they were not going to allow the initiative to be whipped from them.

"This has been a far more aggressive campaign from the Yes side on this occasion, but as others have said, nobody should be complacent until the polls close on October 2nd,” he said.

“Complacency is something that should be guarded against ... that's the proper approach."

Speaking on the protocols negotiated by the Government following the referendum defeat, Mr McCreevy said what the European heads of state agreed was to provide clarifications to "clarify what the treaty wasn't going to do".

"What the Government seems to be doing is that the heads of state, with the guarantees and the protocols, have clarified what is definitely not there," he said. "I think that should help the Yes side."