Arriving at a Conclusion

(29/4/12)The awkwardly-entitled Thirtieth Amendment to the Constitution (Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union) Bill won Seanad approval on Tuesday without a vote after a two-day debate, having already been approved by the Dáil the previous Friday by a hefty 93 votes to 21.

I have published some comments on what is happening, which you will find in the Business and Finance online edition here at http://www.businessandfinance.ie/bf/2010/1/commanalapr12/arrivingataconclusion

Among the issues I comment on are

– the signs (in some respects, worrying signs, from a Government perspective) emanating from opinion polls regarding the  draft measure’s chances of survival beyond the 31 May  referendum, and reasons why we need to be sceptical about such indications;

– the position of the Irish trade union movement;

– Recital 25 of the Treaty’s preamble  and non-access to the  European Stability Mechanism if we vote ‘no’;

– the euro zone’s likely future.