The decision by the Irish people in the forthcoming referendum on Nice would be "central to our future commercial and economical wellbeing", the Minister for Communications, Mr Ahern, told a business lunch in his Louth constituency yesterday.
He used the occasion to attack what he called "the bogeymen" and said that the treaty would "in no way affect the law on abortion, divorce or the other bogeymen thrown up by the anti-Nice supporters".
Instead, it was about making the administrative reforms necessary to allow for enlargement, and it would not affect the Common Agricultural Policy or neutrality.
"When Ireland joined the EEC in 1972, our GDP [gross domestic product\] per head was only 58 per cent of the average; today, it is 111 per cent. Clearly Europe has worked for Ireland."
The Minister was addressing a Dundalk Chamber of Commerce business lunch and clearly linked the town's future commercial success to a Yes vote.
"In order to prosper, we need the Treaty of Nice. Businesses in Dundalk need markets," Mr Ahern told the gathering.
"We need to remain attractive to inward investment. We need access to an enlarged Europe and to be an attractive base for non-EU enterprise as well as part of a healthy national economy.
"Nice will deliver access to huge new markets, delivering more Irish jobs, more markets for the prosperous Dundalk we are building."
