This morning I gave a presentation on the Fiscal Treaty to members of the Labour Party. The slides are available here as a PowerPoint slideshow and here in PDF.

I stressed that while I believe the fiscal parameters specified in the Treaty are overly tight, and will lead to fiscal contraction in Europe even in countries that don’t need to make such adjustments, there are strong arguments for Ireland to sign up for the Treaty and then work to promote growth-enhancing policies after we have signed up.

I’m guessing Stephen Collins would think that I’ve still left myself “open to misinterpretation” with these comments but if Labour had wanted someone to tell them the treaty has no flaws, I’m guessing they would have asked someone else.

I will post more detailed comments about various aspects of the treaty in the coming weeks.