Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

The stability treaty is an important opportunity to affirm our commitment to stay at the heart of the eurozone and the European Union. It is in the interests of Ireland and its people: it is as simple as that.

The first article of the treaty states that its purpose is to support the achievement of the European Union's objectives for sustainable growth, employment, competitiveness and social cohesion. As Minister of State with responsibility for trade and development, it is these objectives that guide my work both in Ireland's own trade and in what we are doing to help the developing world. Stable and responsible economies with stable and responsible currencies are at the heart of what is needed for jobs, social cohesion and healthy trade. This is a treaty on stability and is about ensuring a stable euro. It is about confidence abroad and maintaining and enhancing the influence we have been rebuilding with investors, job creators and our European partners. In particular for job creating investors, from whom so many great job announcements have come in recent months, and even again today, PayPal has been a great example. Its decisions have been thanks to the determination of the Irish people, the stability restored to our economy and our place at the heart of the eurozone; the company knows where we stand.

As Minister of State, I meet job creators and investors around the world. They are attracted by what Ireland has to offer as a European base. Many are already here and are thinking of expanding while others are thinking of coming for the first time. They must, however, be sure the euro is stable and that the Irish economy is a stable and well managed economy at the core of the eurozone. Ireland is the only English speaking country in the eurozone. This is crucial to investor confidence, which we can underpin if we vote "Yes" and undermine if we do not.

The stability treaty is also about good housekeeping. We regard the creation of strong rules on budgetary matters in Europe as necessary to restore stability and confidence the euro. That is entirely consistent with the work we are doing at home. Most of what is in the treaty is already in the existing EU treaties and laws. The stability treaty will not solve all of our problems on its own: it is part of a wider picture. For Europe to move beyond its current difficulty, there must be a balanced approach with equal focus on the growth and jobs agenda. We have repeated that again and again. This view has gained widespread support and recent meetings of the European Council at the end of January and the start of March have been firmly focused on the jobs and growth agenda and have identified key measures to drive it forward. The Government played a key role in pushing this growth agenda.

This is also an insurance policy to make sure we have access, if needed, to the ESM funding that allows us to fund public services and all Government spending. We are determined to return to the financial markets next year to raise money on our own again like we did before. We are on target with our programme but we are far from immune from global economic events. Markets must know there is back-up in the form of the European Stability Mechanism and we can only access that if we ratify this treaty on 31 May. This treaty will contribute to our recovery and ensure economic stability for the country and currency that will contribute to the restoration of confidence in Ireland as a good and secure place in which to invest and do business.

The referendum on 31 May will be an important decision for Ireland and the Government will make the strongest possible case for ratification. It is clear that ratifying the treaty will build on the progress Ireland is making, including in restoring investor confidence in Ireland. We will be joined by many elements of the Opposition in Parliament and many civil society organisations. We hope for a calm and informed debate with a positive outcome. I look forward to playing my part in that and to a successful conclusion.

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