All member states need the treaty if the institutions are to work effectively after enlargement. At the very minimum there will be further serious delay, confusion and doubt with no guarantee that a legally sustainable and political agreed alternative will be found. Ireland, the country which has benefited more than any other from EU membership, will have brought about this crisis in the European Union. That perception and reality could not be other than damaging. We would squander goodwill and influence for no good or positive reason, either economic, political or cultural.