SME owners and shakers might vote 'No' to Lisbon
Saturday May 03 2008
Irish business people are gearing up to say No to the upcoming Lisbon Treaty, according to new research from small firms' organisation ISME.
The association believes the lack of information on the upcoming referendum has doubled the number of small and medium enterprise owners saying they will vote No when compared to last January.
The survey of 280 businesses across the country shows that over 80pc of companies complained that they did not have sufficient information to make a considered judgement.
There was a slight improvement in the number of respondents who were aware of the implications of the treaty on their business: from 5pc to 9pc, it said.
This figure still leaves a "worrying" 91pc who either don't know (15pc) or are not aware (76pc), six weeks prior to the referendum, it said.
Brendan Butler, director of European and international affairs at IBEC, said the key question is what are business organisations doing to try to inform members of what is in the treaty?
"Our feeling on it is that if you went to members too early they wouldn't be interested.
"All the evidence in previous elections shows awareness levels rise in the last two or three weeks, and our plan is to have a very intensive campaign advising all our members about the treaty in the three or four weeks before the treaty vote," he said.
All business organisations have a responsibility to make sure that the business community in Ireland is assured of the actual details of the treaty, he added.
"To suggest that a large amount of business people are going to vote against the treaty is really surprising.
"The business community in this country has gained enormously from membership of the EU. The people we have spoken to say that it is imperative that business gets behind this treaty," he said.
ISME chief executive Mark Fielding believes that business owners are extremely unhappy with the level and quality of information being supplied on the treaty.
"The ongoing debates between the Yes and the No campaigns are leading to further uncertainty about the true aims of the treaty.''
"This uncertainty is leading to a negative reaction to the referendum in general, which may explain the significant swing towards a no vote," he said.
He believes the issues need to be debated to "assuage" the concerns of small business owners.
- Sharon Lynch
