No to inequality

At this time, the people of the 26 County state have already begun voting in the EU fiscal treaty referendum. They are facing another crucial decision on the future governance of their state, and rarely have they been so misinformed or deceived.

Indications are that No voters -- those who have seen through the scare-mongering and the bullying -- are more motivated to vote. On a typically rainy day in Ireland, this could yet allow a surprise result which would shake Europe’s empire-building bureaucrats out of their complacency.

A Yes vote will send out only one message, that the Irish want their begging-bowl to be filled once again. As has been pointed out by just about every economist in Ireland and abroad, access to another bailout will only make our problems worse. The problem of Ireland’s unpayable debt cannot be solved with more debt.

When asked, in a final debate on Tuesday, the perennial question of this campaign, ‘How will Ireland survive without access to another bailout’, Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald, to her credit, replied simply ‘self-sufficiency’, before explaining the other options which would be available.

The disgraceful claim that the Irish people cannot survive without depending on handouts from others is the greatest falsehood perpetrated during this campaign.

The extraordinary wealth generated in Ireland during the boom era is being treated as if it has evapourated, yet by all of the statistical measures, the 26 County State remains one of the world’s top ten wealthiest nations.

Last week, one large development company refused to pay its debts, while holding onto 40 million sterling in free cash. This week, a large Irish stockbroker admitted its accounts had been falsified for years. And 2.5 billion euro was gratuitously handed to the international investors in Irish banks -- the top of the giant debt pyramid scheme -- in order to keep the corrupt European banking system afloat.

The 26 County state has become a haven for white-collar criminals, for those who simply borrow and then refuse to repay, and for the politically connected who have gamed the system to their advantage.

Throwing more money into an ever-expanding black hole of Irish debt will only encourage this coterie of fraudsters to further enrich themselves. And this austerity treaty will ensure, at a constitutional level, that those who pay for this mountain of debt will not be those who have retired to their mansions with their giant pensions. Instead it will be the working stiffs and the unemployed and those who cannot afford to do so -- and future generations of Irish citizens.

It is time to stand up and say ‘No’.

* Results and reaction from the referendum count will be published here on Friday as they come in.

Urgent Appeal