Editorial – Another hard question

ONCEâ€Ë†AGAIN the Irish people are being asked to give a simple answer to a very complex question. It is all very well to be asked to vote on whether or not we should retain the death penalty, or if children adopted in a certain way are to be deemed legally adopted. It is quite another situation to be asked to vote on a fiscal measure the effects of which we cannot be certain.[private] Yet this is the choice affecting every voting citizen of this state on Thursday May 31. We are to tick 'Yes' or 'No' to a measure which some people say is a step towards economic salvation, and which others claim will condemn generations yet unborn to austerity. That ratifying or not ratifying a piece of legislation will have such far-reaching effects is hard to take seriously. We are victims of that old Chinese curse which condemns its targets to live in interesting times. We, and all the citizens of Europe, are floating on stormy waters, driven this way and that by forces too great for us to comprehend. The people we educate and pay to study the patterns of economic cycles are not much good to us â€â€ they differ widely on which way we should vote, and on what the consequences of this vote may be. Given the confusion that is visible among eminent commentators, the temptation may well be to abstain. But that is leaving the decision to the others who will cast their vote. Probably the best result of this referendum would be a decisive majority for one side or the other. That way the mood of the Irish people will be expressed â€â€ or will it?â€Ë†The reasons for voting Yes or No will be so varied that only extensive post-referendum opinion polling will indicate the range of motivations driving voters. Or perhaps many of us will make up our minds based on the toss of a coin. The Euro has made us into a national pitch and toss school.[/private]