WHAT LEADING ECONOMISTS HAVE TO SAY:ON THE LISBON TREATY
Jim Power
“Asked if concerns about taxation measures in the Lisbon Treaty raised in recent days were relevant, Mr Power said that Lisbon would facilitate CCTB (the Common Consolidated Tax Base), and that it ‘would indeed be very bad news’”.
Galway Independent, 23 April 2008
Colm Rapple
“At least the provision of a Finance Act can always be reversed by a subsequent Act. That can’t be said of the Lisbon Treaty and there is plenty of scope in its convoluted wording for both hidden provisions and mistakes that could come back to haunt us.”
www.colmrapple.com, 1 June 2008
Professor Ray Kinsella, UCD
“The real issue is whether, or not, the Lisbon Treaty of itself will generate additional economic benefits for the Irish economy. There is not a scintilla of robust evidence that this is the case. The Treaty is, essentially a re-sprayed EU Constitution, which was rejected in its original form by a majority of EU citizens. It is not about economics.
There are, however, very clear reasons for believing that a ‘Yes’ vote will have negative effects on the Irish economy, competitiveness, jobs, and living standards.”
The Economic Case in favour of a ‘No’ vote on the Lisbon Treaty, May 2008
To read more from Professor Ray Kinsella, click here
AFTER THE NO VOTE
The Economist
"Just bury it. It is time to accept that the Lisbon treaty is dead. The European Union can get along well enough without it.”
19 June 2008 Read the full article in The Economist here Professor Ray Kinsella, UCD
“The sensible and decisive NO vote to the flawed Lisbon Treaty will help to protect Irish jobs”
May 2008 The Economist
“Ireland is a small country, to be sure. But the EU is an inter-governmental organisation that needs a consensus to proceed. It is bogus to claim that 1m voters are thwarting the will of 495m Europeans by blocking this treaty. Referendums would have been lost in many other countries had their people been given a say. Voters have thrice said no to this mess of pottage. It is time their verdict was respected. “
19 June 2008 Ernst and Young report described in The Irish Times
“The number of jobs created by foreign direct investment (FDI) here increased by 56 per cent last year (2008), according to a report published by Ernst & Young. And the rise is considerable, with over 6,300 jobs created through FDI in Ireland in 2008 compared to just over 4,000 in 2007. Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for FDI was in strong contrast to overall European figures which show that inward investment into Europe was flat in 2008, demonstrating the global recession’s toll on investment projects into the region.”
18 June 2008 
ON THE EFFECT OF OUR EURO-ZONE MEMBERSHIP OF THE ECONOMY The Irish Daily Mail “Low euro interest rates and cheap labour from Eastern Europe after 2004 were the main reasons for the overheating of the Irish economy which led to the recession, the Minister of Finance, Brian Lenihan has said. Asked about the causes of the recession during ‘The Last Word with Matt Cooper’ on Thursday, Minister Lenihan put it down to, “cheap credit from the European Central Bank, the availability of cheap labour after 2004 was a factor as well,’ also suggesting that, ‘the public appetite for lending, and public appetite for increased purchase of property were part of it.’
Minister Lenihan was taking part in a radio interview provoked by the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on the Irish economy which said that from 2005 to 2007, ‘easy credit fostered a property bubble’. 26 June 2009 Wall Street Journal “Ireland's membership in the euro zone brought benefits, but also hazards. Low interest rates brought a flood of credit, which the Irish put to work buying homes.
Alan Ahearne, an economist at the National University of Ireland in Galway, worked for the U.S. Federal Reserve. When he came back to Ireland in 2005, he was unnerved. House prices had rocketed, outpacing incomes and rents.
The period of low rates (set by the European Central Bank) was ‘fine for the German economy, which was very weak at the time, but it wasn't for the Irish economy, which was very strong,’ says Mr. Ahearne. To regain its footing, he says, Ireland will face painful ‘real devaluation" -- falling wages and prices that bring the living standard down’.”
7 February 2009 IMF Report on Ireland “However, since the possibility of adjusting through the depreciation of its own exchange rate is not available, further wage reductions will be required to restore competitiveness and growth prospects.”
15 June 2009. The International Monetary Fund’s Report on Ireland explains why being part of the euro means we must cut wages rather than devalue our currency
David McWilliams
"The only way we can win this war is by becoming, once again, an export country. We can do what we are doing now, which is to reduce our wages, throw more people on the dole and suffer a long contraction. The other model is what the British are doing. Britain is letting sterling fall so that the problem becomes someone else's. But we, of course, have ruled this out by our euro membership.
"We are paying twice for the euro: once on the exchange rate and once more on the interest rate.”
March 2009
Jim Power
"Of course Ireland should leave EMU, but as you and I know, there is no Irish politician with the vision or neck to even contemplate such a course of action. In Ireland's case, EMU was a victory for politics over economics and we have paid the price ever since. Ireland now finds itself tied into a German economy that is determined to emulate Japan."
Quoted in The Irish Times answering a question from Irish economist Chris Jones
Bloxham Stockbrokers
“The weakness of Euro membership for Ireland is highlighted into today’s Lex column (Financial Times). With the UK doing what is needed to adjust to the new economic reality and devaluing its currency, Ireland is unable to devalue its currency to restore competitiveness. Therefore Lex points out that wages in Ireland will need to fall, something which is exceptionally difficult to achieve. While the Euro zone has provided us with the buffer of a central banking guarantee, the downside pain is in a loss of competitiveness against our nearest neighbour, the UK."
Bloxham Stockbrokers' Morning Note, 14 January 2009
Professor Anthony Coughlan “Ireland already had an economic boom and house prices were rising rapidly when it joined the eurozone and cut interest rates by half. This was the opposite to what the real economy needed. No wonder house prices rocketed as the economy shifted gears from exporting abroad to housebuilding at home and credit hugely expanded.”
European Journal, May 2009
Professor Anthony Leddin, Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Limerick, and Professor Brendan Walsh, Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, UCD.
”Iceland and the other EMU aspirants could do well to examine carefully the Irish experience in the EMU before opting to replace their currencies with the euro…..
..Contrary to what was required under Irish conditions, the European Central Bank cut interest rates from 4.75 per cent to 2 per cent between 2001 and 2003. Given the high Irish inflation, the result was negative real interest rates which added fuel to the already unsustainable boom.
These developments, combined with loose credit regulation, sustained the boom in building and construction and in consumer spending. On the supply-side the inflow of labour from the new Accession States made the Irish labour force the fastest growing labour force in the OECD.
Aspiring EMU members could to well to note that the adverse repercussions of the doctrine that ‘one monetary policy fits all’ can be serious The Irish Times, 19 December 2008 Read more from Professors Leddin and Walsh here 
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