Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

We must stop deluding ourselves on this score. The investment climate for the next few years will be challenging. If we raise doubts about Ireland's place in Europe, the outlook which is already bleak will turn yet bleaker. A stable currency, access to a single market, a competitive and well-regulated economy and predictable tax policies — these are key attributes that international and domestic investors prize and they will provide the pathway to a more prosperous future for our citizens.

These can be assured only by maintaining and upholding our membership of the European Union and by continuing to play our part in the developments in the European project. I realise the eyes of the nation are now more upon the immediate decisions that must be taken but we should not allow that reality to cloud us. We have another decision to make. As individual citizens, we may not be able to influence the money markets or individual decisions taken by investors but, as individual voters, we can assure our place in Europe and gain the opportunities that will come from being at its heart. We can do that later this year.

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