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country's second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty, analysts say.
Experts say voters are seeing the European Union as a potential
saviour which can pull the once-booming Ireland out of the financial
crisis. On June 12 last year, 53 percent voted against the reform
treaty, but "voting 'no' is a luxury we don't have any more," said
Michael Marsh, Professor of Comparative Political Behaviour at
Trinity College in Dublin. Back then, experts did not predict a
reverse of the "Celtic Tiger" economy's formidable growth. Ireland's
gross domestic product is set to slump by a record eight percent,
while unemployment could top 15 percent -- triple the rate when the
first referendum was held. "We need all the help we can get", Marsh
told AFP, ahead of the second referendum to be held on Friday. "This
is not the time to be cutting ourselves off the international
organisations." Peadar O'Broin, a researcher at the Institute of
International and European Affairs in Dublin, said: "People have seen
the economic security from which Ireland benefits as a member of the
EU -- particularly eurozone membership -- through the now infamous
comparison between Ireland and Iceland." The Nordic country, outside
the 27- country bloc, has seen its economy collapse and has applied
for membership, seeing the EU as a safe haven from the financial
storm. "The economic downturn has made people more aware of the
importance of Europe," said Alan Barrett, a research professor at the
Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, citing " awareness
of the support the European Central Bank has given during the banking
crisis". Without the ECB, "not only would our financial system have
collapsed but it would have been impossible to repair it", Finance
Minister Brian Lenihan said. The Yes camp is stressing that without
the 120 billion euros (176 billion dollars) recently injected by
the ECB, Irish banks would probably have had to close. "The harsh
fact was that a 'no' vote would shatter international confidence in
the country's ability to confront the financial crisis," Lenihan
added. Paul Duffy, president of the American Chamber of Commerce
Ireland, which numbers some 600 businesses, also warned against a
"no" vote. "We have no doubt that a second rejection of the Lisbon
Treaty would inflict a severe injury on the prospects for future
foreign direct investment in Ireland," he said.
