So, the country is voting No.
Let's see how this effects us all in the long term... Thanks are flowing in from the UK already - just take a look at the comments on a number of Sky News articles! I never watch Sky News at home because it's just so tabloid, but it is up to date online, if totally biased sometimes.
[edit: thanks to comments on Twenty's site, I just saw more praise from the rest of Europe on the RTE Lisbon page.]
Will it really effect us at all, in our day-to-day lives?! I'm not so sure that the people of Europe will start shaking fists at us. Will a realistic business decide not to trade with an Irish firm, just because our public voted against a treaty that would ultimately only make life easier for politicians?! I don't know - I hope not, I doubt it. Not if they were practical businesspeople. You do business with people for a profit; relationships are built up on synergy rather than political agenda.
Right?
Update:
Conspiracy Theory #1:
That the govt. put in a half-arsed attempt to back the "Yes" side just to be seen to be backing it, while secretly strategising that the "No" campaign would be stronger, thereby looking good in the face of their EU/EC peers all the while getting what they really wanted...
Can't beat a good conspiracy theory. At the very least it entertains. You're right, if there is money to be made, business will get done. It was an impenetrable topic though.
ReplyDelete*chortle*
ReplyDeleteI doubt it cos it means to have to work your arse off in Brussels for the next year. Cost/Benefit does not add up for me. The US military connection with Libertas seems to have been proved though:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.indymedia.ie/article/87311
I was certainly holding to exactly that theory when Dick Roche was the only government man doing the rounds for the Yes campaign. But FF spent €700,000 on promoting a Yes vote, and Brian Cowen staked his reputation on it. I think individual FFers didn't put a lot of effort in, but I don't think the leaders were secretly hoping for a No vote.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, in reply to the comment on Libertas, I worked with Libertas on their campaign, and I agree with practically everything they were saying. I have no US military connections, no fortune, no ulterior motives. I am a citizen of Ireland who gave his time for nothing to stand up for what I believe. So whatever you want to say about Ganley and Rivada Networks - and I don't believe a lot of what I've read about it - you can't say the same about me, or any of the other volunteers who gave up their time to work for Libertas for no reward other than to see the No side win.
And anyway, Ganley has previously donated money to Fianna Fáil - where were their concerns about his finances then? Did they return his donations? No. And isn't Fianna Fáil the party that allowed the US military to use Shannon Airport en route to Iraq? If you're going to throw mud, at least do it fairly.