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For the last few weeks you will have heard various discussions in the media on whether or not Ireland will need to have a referendum on a new agreement that is taking place at EU level.

With the speed things have been happening during this financial crisis we know many people are lost or confused amidst the minefield of initials (IMF, EMU, ESF, WTF???) that are flying around and so we have compiled this short guide that explains what on earth these discussions are all about. 

TO SEND AN EMAIL TO ALL TDS AND SENATORS ABOUT THIS, CLICK HERE.

We hope this guide will help any of you that are confused to understand what the issues are and that it will help you to make sense of the various media discussions you hear. 

We apologise!!! that it is not a fascinating read but we think democracy is everyone's business and way too important to leave just to the politicians and so hopefully you will think it's worth ten minutes of your time.

This article doesn't intend to present the arguments either for or against the proposed agreement. What concerns us here at contact.ie is DEMOCRACY and we are sure that whatever decision Ireland eventually makes on this issue will have long term and far reaching effects on our society, and that means on our children, our elderly, ourselves, and on our social structures long after the five year term of this current Government is over.   For that reason, we insist that as citizens of this state we have a right to participate in deciding whether or not to sign Ireland up to this treaty.  We are currently suffering the effects of decisions made on our behalf that many of us given the choice would not have made, (such as the bank guarantee scheme and others) and for that reason we are demanding that  from now on we must be consulted and have our will taken into account. We need to be asked about this new agreement by referendum before our government puts it into Irish law. 

What is the Fiscal Compact?

The EU, as its response to the current financial crisis wants to make a new agreement which in simple terms says that all countries in the EU will have to agree to strict rules about how each country manages their individual budgets. In the media this new agreement is being called several things ; Fiscal Compact,Austerity Treaty, and it's real name which is a bit of a mouthful: 'Treaty on Stability Coordination and Government in the Economic and Monetary Union'.

The full text of the new agreement is here link but for anyone who doesn't enjoy reading legal texts a quick explanation: the main purpose of this agreement is to make it illegal for any country whose currency is the Euro, to run more than 3 % of what is called a 'budget deficit'. For anyone confused, a budget deficitoccurs when a state spends more money (on public services, civil service etc) than it takes in taxes and other revenue each year.

The new treaty also states that all countries should keep their national debt at 60% of its GDP or at least demonstrate to the satisfaction of the other treaty signatory countries that they are working towards reducing it to that level. This treaty should it come into effect, means that each country that signs up to it would have their budgets supervised by the other signatory countries and that individual countries could then be taken to the European Court of Justice and fined if they run budget deficits outside of those agreed by the Euro group.

Many of the rules in this new agreement were actually already included in the previous treaties, which the Irish people have already signed up to. This agreement, however, means that these rules would now have to be put directly into the laws of each country and that penalties can be exacted on those who break them. The new treaty says they must be inserted through 'Binding and permanent provisions, preferably constitutional'  

There are many opinions on whether this new treaty would be a good or bad thing- for example it is really unlikely that an agreement like this will have any positive effect on the current economic crisis or recession that is now widespread in the EU, but conversely rules such as these it is argued could possibly have prevented individual country's governments from running unsustainable debt or deficit levels. 

Also this agreement would remove some of the options or choices that individual countries might have to try to improve their economic performance or to create more employment by borrowing and investing in their own economy (so-called stimulus plans etc). 

A third point that we feel is most important in terms of democracy, is that by signing up to this treaty we would be removing some of the decision making powers of any government we elect in the future and passing those over to EU level. This also could be either positive or negative depending on your own opinion, however it certainly is not something to be done lightly- Our democracy was hard won over generations and we need to make sure that we make informed decisions about any changes to it.  We have a right to participate in making such a far reaching decision and so we are calling for a referendum.

Referendums - when and for what can we have them?

Under current Irish law there are only two circumstances in which we may have a referendum.

The first is if we need to make any change to the text of the Irish Constitution:

1.      Constitutional Change Referendum:

Ireland has its own Constitution - in simple terms this is the rulebook that every government we elect has to work within. Though our constitution is not perfect and needs many changes it does help to serve a very useful purpose; that is to protect us the people, from any government going totally off the rails during their time in office. So though it is our government's job to make and change laws on various issues, if any of those laws wish to change anything in the constitution they are obliged to ask for our (citizens) permission. They do this by having a referendum where the change that they want to make to the constitution is put forward for our consideration.  We have had many of these referendums and have made various changes to the constitution including the ones that allowed us to join the EU and to sign up to the EU' s various treaties.

2.       Matters of such national importance that the will of the people must be ascertained: (Art 27)

Our constitution says (at article 27) that if there is a circumstance where a decision is of such national importance that it is felt the people must be consulted a referendum can be called even if the decision does not affect the text of our constitution.  To call a referendum under Art 27 a majority of the members of the Senate (our senators) and at least one third of all of our elected TD'S can request that the President of Ireland (Micheal D. Higgins) would refuse to sign off on these laws unless the people are consulted.

In a brief word of explanation; one of the tasks of the president of Ireland, is to sign off on all new laws proposed by our government. For this job the president seeks the advice of his/her council of state if there is any concern that the new laws might contradict any of the provisions of our constitution.  If the Council of State and President think that it is necessary they can decide to send (refer) that law to the Supreme Court of Ireland where the court's judges will decide if that new law is in agreement with our constitution. If they decide it is not in agreement then the government must either change the law so it agrees with the constitution or else have a referendum -i.e ask us the people if we agree to change our constitution to allow the particular law to be passed. 

If any law has been referred to the Supreme Court for a decision on its constitutionality then we can not have an article 27 Referendum until the court has returned its decision.  (This sounds confusing but basically it means only that if a supreme court decided something is 'Unconstitutional' then we have to have a referendum anyway and so we wouldn't need to call for an Art 27 referendum which is only to be used when it is felt that a new law even though it is in agreement with the constitution is so important that 'we the people' must be asked to consent to it. )

Join us in demanding a referendum:

There are several initiatives and petitions ongoing at the moment that are calling for a referendum on the new Fiscal Compact agreement, this includes people who are calling for a constitutional referendum and those who are calling for a referendum whether or not the new agreement contravenes our constitution.  Atcontact.ie we feel that we have an absolute right to participate in making this decision and so we are demanding a referendum on it whichever form that referendum takes.

Here at contact.ie we want you to add your voices to those demands.  By sending and signing our e- mail you will be providing support to those TD's and Senators who are demanding a referendum and you will be making it clear to all of the others that 'We the People' want to have our say on this issue.  Please send a mail and if you feel as strongly as we do that politics is too important to be left to the politicians please share this campaign as widely as possible.