Would a No vote be bad for business?
Libertas has absolutely no proven track record of job creation in Ireland yet it is calling for a No vote against the EU Reform or Lisbon Treaty because it claims that it will be bad for the Irish economy.
On the other side of this argument is the IDA, who have created 136,000 jobs and IBEC, which represents 7,000 Irish businesses and American multinational companies. Both have called for a Yes vote because they say it is clearly in Ireland's economic interest to support this treaty.
These groups also claim that levels of investment from America will fall if we do not ratify the Lisbon Treaty and that we should remember there are many other European countries in competition against Ireland for new investment.
Is Ireland really going to take the decision to move away from the European Union and adopt a more detached and isolated relationship with Europe?
What could a No vote possibly achieve other than to drive future and possibly existing investment away from our country? In an economic downturn, can Ireland really afford the luxury to say No to Europe and to new investment?
Our primary selling point to companies around the world is our EU membership and the fact that we are one of the EU's leading members. We should remember these facts at all times.
MARK CURLEY
CASTLEKNOCK, DUBLIN 15
It is unfortunate that supporters of the Lisbon Treaty frequently present their arguments in absolute terms. It is not a case of leaving the EU if we reject this treaty. It simply gives us an opportunity to negotiate, on our own terms, our place in the EU, and to state the kind of EU that we want to be part of.
Supporters have vehemently threatened that we place ourselves at risk economically should we reject this treaty, since we owe all our prosperity to membership of the EU.
This is demonstrably false. In the 1980s, a decade after we joined the then EEC, the rate of unemployment was 16pc and some 250,000 people emigrated from the State.
The boom we experienced was due to factors that had little or nothing to do with EU membership. Norway and Switzerland both have thriving economies and neither is an EU member.
MICHAEL O DRISCOLL
BLACKROCK, CORK
