Euro hit investment and fuelled housing bubble

THE politicians and other Lisbon Treaty supporters tell us it’s all about being at the heart of Europe.

We are in the worst financial mess since the inception of the State, fuelled by a high-value euro which has driven away offshore investors and made production costs unacceptably high.

We were saddled with low interest rates that fuelled the housing boom at a time when rates needed to be high.

Fishermen lost their jobs because of the unfair quota system. Farmers are being driven from the land because of low produce prices – and we once had a sugar industry.

Are we insane not to recognise the importance of being Irish, our right to self-determination and our Irish brand name, by far our greatest asset, which is now being swamped by French, German and British interests? Yes, there are benefits to EU membership, notably free trade and sharing in the intellectual capacity of its members.

But let’s not forget that overseas investment in Ireland came mainly from outside the eurozone and the Celtic Tiger was born in the late 1980s when the EU did not have a common currency or the current stringent laws. Imagine what a devaluation of the púnt by, say, 30% would have done for us in these times – restored our competitiveness, attracted overseas investment, avoided the attrition of cutting state budgets and depriving our children of desperately needed care.

We need to concentrate on utilising our homegrown skills, talents and natural resources, together with our world-renowned Irish brand name. Continuing to look to the EU for salvation will only prolong the recession and our agony. Hopefully, my No to Lisbon protest vote will send a message to the politicians to rethink how to harvest our abundant wealth in a proactive way.

In that manner our success would qualify us automatically to be at the heart of Europe.

Neville Dent

Woodview

Killeagh

Co Cork