The Irish Times nails its ‘all business, all week’ colours to the mast this morning.

It’s stirring stuff.

In Ireland, the issue at stake is not leaving the euro, but there is a similar simplistic refusal among some No campaigners to acknowledge that the alternative to what they call the “austerity treaty” is also austerity.
And almost certainly austerity with spades. Some argue that our EU partners will surely see us right even if we vote No – a bit rich from those who have long decried the supposed malign influence that Berlin and Paris represent. Or that money forgone from a possible second bailout by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will be found elsewhere easily, notably by bleeding the rich. It is naïve, wishful thinking and an irresponsible feeding of fanciful narratives to a hurt people that desperately wants to believe comfortable truths. The left owes its constituency better, the truth.

A genuine dialogue on the treaty’s merits is also not helped by the wilful distortion of language that use of terms like “blackmail clause” represents.

…To that end we have come together with partners voluntarily to create the necessary structures for our common project. And, to enjoy the potential benefits of such a robust currency, not least the possibility of using its weight in the markets to create relatively cheap credit, we all agree to play our part.

The ‘left’, eh?

Well, we’re convinced.

Home Truths On The Treaty (Irish Times Editorial)