Scaremongering over Nice
In the latest scare, Mr Ahern and Ms Harney try to claim that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will fall if the people were to reaffirm their “No” vote.
But why should this be so? We would still be a full member of the EU and, free of the centralisation of Nice, we would be in a stronger position to set tax rates which attract FDI.
Applicant countries would still be able to join via the same Accession Treaty mechanism we did and thus prevent a two-tier EU, where most investment would be sucked towards the centre.
In fact, FDI is already falling and is set to fall further because of the IT recession. This fall will be compounded, not by a “No To Nice 2” vote, but by the increasing perception of corruption in Ireland as revealed in the latest Index from Transparency International. According to TI, Ireland’s fall of five places to 23rd will adversely affect FDI into Ireland.
The problem for FF and the PDs is that they now lack credibility because of their failure to effectively tackle corruption and because they broke many of their election promises.
Cllr Dessie Ellis,
19, Dunsink Road,
Finglas,
Dublin.
