PDs claim No vote would hit investment

A No vote in the forthcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum would leave Ireland sidelined and with diminished capacity to attract foreign investment, the Progressive Democrats warned today.

Launching his party's campaign for a Yes vote on June 12th, PD leader Ciarán Cannon, said that it was "clearly in Ireland's best interests" to vote in favour of the treaty.

Mr Cannon made his comments at a press conference in Dublin this morning, which was also attended by Minister for Health Mary Harney and the former President of the European Parliament Pat Cox.

"At its simplest, the treaty will allow the EU to have the flexibility to move forward on issues benefiting the community as a whole while still allowing Ireland the right to retain its vetoes on key national issues such as taxation, neutrality, defence and the right to life of the unborn," said Mr Cannon.

The Progressive Democrats leader added that claims by the No campaign that the treaty would lead to a loss of influence, were based on a "very ambiguous interpretation" of the new arrangements."

"The Lisbon Treaty will provide for a more efficient EU that will lead to enhanced markets in areas such as transport, energy, environment and telecommunications.

Ms Harney, claimed that the Treaty would allow the European Union to develop and work more efficiently while still preserving Ireland's corporation tax policies.

"I am totally satisfied, on the basis of the best advice available to the Government, that nothing in Article 113 - which deals with indirect taxation - provides a legal basis to dilute or change our existing national decision-making on corporation tax," said Ms Harney.

"I appeal to any business person who may be inclined to vote against the Treaty, because they are concerned about corporation tax, to think again in the light of the true nature of Article 113," she added.

Pat Cox said that he had no hesitation in commending the Treaty to the Irish people. "All protagonists in this debate, Lisbon critics included, agree that European integration so far in net terms has been tremendously positive for Ireland. This is a result of our collective wisdom over the years to ratify the Treaties that have helped to make a difference to Europe and to ourselves," said Mr Cox.

"There is no good strategic reason to reverse gear now and certainly this would not be a good time to do so. As the world and our country experiences global slowdown and economic uncertainty it would be unwise for us as one of the most open global economies to add to such uncertainty by our own sovereign choice.

"Appearing to decouple ourselves politically or psychologically from what has been one of the consistent anchors or our success would send out mixed signals to our EU partners and the global investment community alike," he added.