MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan has said he would prefer not to hold a referendum in Ireland on a new treaty involving tougher rules for euro zone countries, warning it would be seen by the world as a vote on whether the Irish want to stay part of the single currency.
In London, Mr Noonan said a draft treaty was not yet available and a final decision on whether a referendum was necessary could not be made until it was ready, although he added that changes already in planning in Ireland go further than those currently being mooted in Brussels.
“So my personal wish is that it can be done without constitutional change. But if constitutional change is required, we will have a referendum and we will put the case to the people and it will come down to whether one wants to continue in the euro, or not,” he said. “What I am saying is that in practical politics, if there is a referendum [then] the wider issue of Ireland’s future in the euro zone will become an issue, even though the actual question that will be put to the people will be about the governance rules for the euro,” he went on.
Later, he said: “We don’t have any problem, really, with the provisions of the new governance regulations. As a programme country, we have most of these in place already. I have a fiscal control Bill drafted already . . . which in certain respects goes further than is required.”
During separate meetings with chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne and bond traders, Mr Noonan sought to explain the constitutional requirements in Ireland because “a lot of the Europeans don’t understand our constitutional position”.
Speaking to journalists, he said: “The opening position is that any international agreement that Ireland enters into requires a constitutional change [that] requires a referendum. On one interpretation of what is on the table this can be done without constitutional change.
“People won’t be able to call it until they see the text, because it is a very fine position in Ireland. The line to watch is that any agreement that requires constitutional agreement requires a referendum. You can’t change the Constitution in Ireland without a referendum. Not in Ireland, you have to go to the people,” he went on.
“The question for the legal people is whether it crosses the line. We have passed every referendum that was put to the Irish people, but on one occasion, we had to have two goes at it. We certainly wouldn’t like a replay,” said Mr Noonan.
Questioned on how a vote could be avoided if external supervision of EU member states becomes the norm in future years, the Minister for Finance said: “There is external consultation already on the types of budgets that we put in place. For example, we have to reach agreement with the European authorities and the IMF – and have done so – on the level of deficit that we run in all budgets up to 2015.”
Although the EU-IMF supervision is a temporary measure to deal with the current crisis, rather than a permanent rule, Mr Noonan told The Irish Times: "The Constitution never made a distinction between what could be done for a little while and what could be done for a long time."
Asked about British prime minister David Cameron’s decision to block a treaty involving all of the 27 member states, Mr Noonan was careful not to damage Anglo-Irish relations, saying: “The decision of sovereign governments are matters for sovereign governments. They act in the best interest of their country. David Cameron was speaking to the Taoiseach yesterday evening and they had a very full and amicable discussion. We have a better idea of the British position now.”
He said he did not believe the British would block the other 26 states from using the European Commission, the European Court of Justice and other EU institution. “I don’t see any indication from the UK that they are going to inhibit the establishment of the intergovernmental conference arrangements which are now in place. There is no sign of that and I don’t see that happening.”
