Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

I am delighted to contribute to this debate. I am surprised that Deputy Donnelly is undecided because he is normally a man of great certainty. I know him as a fellow financial economist and I have no doubt if he was advising a client in the morning and Ireland Inc., or the Irish Government was the client, he would advise everyone to vote "Yes" for the treaty. He is increasingly entering the world of politics and on something like the fiscal compact treaty one has to be careful not to veer too much into the political side away from reality, the pragmatic position and what this fiscal compact treaty will do for Ireland. I see it in very simple straightforward terms. By voting "Yes" one will get certainty. People can agree or disagree but one will get certainty that one has the insurance policy of the ESM fund. I hope we never have to access it but it is an insurance policy. It gives certainty to multinationals considering investing in Ireland in that one of the key ingredients investors seek is certainty. They will get certainty if we vote "Yes" for the fiscal compact treaty. They get much more certainty than if we vote "No". Those on the "No" side never say exactly what will happen if one votes "No". The referendum on the fiscal compact treaty requires a proper debate-----

See this speech in context