| Business leaders say Nice ‘No’ vote was correct |
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An Ulster bank Business Monitor survey conducted amongst business leaders throughout Ireland has indicated that 55 per cent of the business community consider that the Irish electorate was correct in voting ‘No’ in the recent referendum on the Nice Treaty.
The survey was conducted by MRBI and was based on interviews conducted at the end of June 2001.
Pat McArdle, head of economic research at Ulster Bank said that the result of the poll ‘was uncannily close to the actual referendum result. Yet interestingly in the view of the business community the result was not linked to the censure handed down by the EU to the Minister of Finance, Charlie McCreevy. Only 30 per cent said that the EU criticism of McCreevy was a factor in the referendum result. At the same time, 62 per cent of the business community believe that the EU was not justified in criticising Irish budgetary policy, McArdle said.
Other findings of the survey includes the fact that 61 per cent of respondents believe that the European Central bank should make further reductions in interest rates, that 82 per cent consider it likely that the UK will join the eurozone and that 70 per cent believe that having the UK in the euro would be beneficial for Ireland.
70 per cent of respondents to the Ulster Bank survey believe that as a result of the global growth slowing and rising
inflation Irish business is coming under serious cost pressures.
The fact that many businesses are against the Nice treaty would seem at odds with the perception amongst readers opf Finance. In fact financial services seem to be more in favour of the treaty than this Ulster Bank survey suggests. Perhaps this is beacuse the the larger businesses recognise the beenfits of a more integrted Europe thatn smaller companies in Ireland. |
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| Article appeared in the July 2001 issue.
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