ANALYSIS:When using the new website on the stability treaty do not look for vivid insights into slippery concepts
IN ADVANCE of the fiscal treaty referendum next month, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has promised the most comprehensive information campaign in four decades of European votes in Ireland.
This is crucial given the issues at stake for the State and the people when ballots are cast on May 31st. The poll will have an important bearing on Ireland’s prospects of regaining access to private debt markets at the end of the EU-IMF bailout.
The first phase of the Government information campaign was initiated last Thursday when its website – stabilitytreaty.ie– went live.
While the site provides a simplified guide of the treaty itself and sets out some of the political background to the agreement, this is quite basic fare and does not delve into the nitty-gritty of the text or the politics. For example, Germany’s role as instigator of the treaty is not mentioned.
Neither does the site address some of the key questions which arise.
The central contention of the No camp – that the treaty will entrench austerity for years to come – is not addressed.
Nor, for that matter, is the counter-argument that more austerity will be in prospect anyway whether Ireland enacts the treaty or not.
Is the information on the website neutral? Or is this a propaganda exercise? In truth there is a bit of both.
Indeed, the site includes a “media” section on which all Government press releases on the referendum will be published, as well as the texts of speeches delivered by people such as Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore. Such stuff is always going to be partial. That is in the nature of political campaigning.
The full text of the treaty is to be found on the site and there is an article-by-article guide labelled “the treaty in brief”. Brief is an apt description.
While the agreement itself commands well more than 4,000 words, the guide runs to no more than 474 words.
This is strictly a broad-brush affair, with little by way of nuance. Don’t look here for vivid insight into the slippery concept of the structural budget deficit, which will central to the operation of the treaty.
In the “frequently asked questions” section, the site deals with the key issue of whether Ireland’s role in setting its own taxes is preserved under the treaty.
“Yes,” says the answer. “Our government and Oireachtas will continue to have the same role in setting taxes. The stability treaty does not bring any change to how countries make decisions on what exactly is taxed and spent.”
That is true, but it is only part of the story.
The answer does not reflect the fact that the treaty imposes new strictures which will narrow the scope for manoeuvre when budget policy and strategy are being framed. That is what the initiative is all about.
