'It's an in or out decision' - Bruton

'There is not going to be a second vote' Paul Neilan Jobs Minister Richard Bruton was in the Farnham Arms Hotel on Friday night to host a jobs questions and answers session. That morning, national newspapers had carried the 'gaffe' story, in which Minister Bruton, when asked the day before on Today FM what the Government's Plan B was if the treaty is rejected, appeared to suggest that a second vote was possible on the Fiscal Stability Treaty referendum. The statement was later retracted with Bruton saying his remarks were made "in the heat of debate". Immediately after Friday's public meeting, and with Bruton running radically late, he granted The Anglo-Celt five minutes in the lobby of the hotel... Anglo Celt: "Regarding this morning's headlines, yesterday on the radio your credibility took a bit of a battering, now credibility is very important when it comes to jobs, [so] would you give an undertaking, on the record, on your word that there wouldn't be a second referendum? Would you resign if there was one?" Minister Bruton: "I dealt with the issue yesterday and clearly the issue now is what the consequence of a 'no' vote would be. The opportunity that we would forego is a real risk. We would not have access to the safety fund, for funding the government after the end of next year. And it's really important that we have access to that money. "You raise the issue of confidence regarding employment creation. It's vital that we have confidence, that people investing in the country have confidence and when that confidence is borne out of a government in which there is international confidence, a government that is able to fund itself into the future. "And I can tell you that when I go into the boardrooms of companies who are investing in Ireland, there is a real question about is Ireland soundly funded, is it working within Europe to find a way in which the Eurozone can manage this crisis? And it's really important that the Irish people vote 'yes'. There will be just one opportunity for people to vote and that is at this referendum on the 31st, it's an 'in-or-out' decision and it is a decision that people must make." AC: "People might think the cat was let out of the bag, slightly... [on a second referendum]" MB: "There was no, no such issue..." AC: "In terms of a plan..." MB: "It's absolutely clear there is not going to be a second vote. People have to make up their mind on the 31st of May. The stakes are very high. And if you look at what's happening in other countries, the way that political uncertainty has created huge challenges. I think we need to be conscious of the scale of the threat that's out there, we need to be part of a Europe that's committed to mutual support, the creation of a fund that can protect countries in times of difficulty. And, yes, we have to sign up to certain terms and conditions but those conditions that we are signing up to in this Treaty are sound housekeeping conditions and I, in my lifetime, have lived through two occasions in which reckless governments have jeopardised the future of employment and jobs in this country by bad management of their affairs. We need to move away from that." AC: "Okay. You mentioned PayPal briefly there [in the questions and answers session], we had a report about two months ago that Cavan was losing roughly a thousand jobs [due to PayPal's locating to Louth], the infrastructure, PayPal said, wasn't in Cavan. Can you mention specifics regarding infrastructure for Cavan?... They didn't actually have a building [to house the jobs]. MB: "Decisions of US companies coming to Ireland are really across a range of issues, there are few companies deciding location just in terms of a building, they're looking at access to skills, the experience that they can get, looking at a range of factors. What we have to do in Ireland is look at how we can create a regional fit with what we have with what they need. There was a time when building advanced factories was key, that's twenty-five years ago. Now, it's much more around skills and looking at the strengths of a region and seeking to attract companies who can lever off the strengths of that region and that's really what we were discussing inside, where are those strengths of those regions is it around the food sector, is it around team tech, can we identify sectors where there's opportunity and, yes, can we look at some existing companies who could expand into regions. Those are the sort of challenges we're working with all the time. MB's press handler: "Thanks very much, Paul..." AC: "Just finally, who's going to win the European Cup tomorrow night?" MB: "I think that Chelsea might surprise them all and park the bus across the goal-mouth and defy Bayern." And on that prescient note, he was gone. For a detailed report and pictures from the seminar in Cavan last Friday, see this week's Anglo-Celt newspaper.