In the midst of all the bluster about billions and bailouts, the most fundamental consequence of adopting the Fiscal Treaty into law has largely being ignored; namely the threat the treaty poses to the very nature of European democracy.

How is it that, despite their failure in their primary duty as auditors of Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Nationwide and AIB, the big auditing firms have not been brought to account? How is it that State agencies have engaged these firms, found as they were to have been so negligent in their role as auditors to the banks? By Vincent Browne.

Bloxham, the country’s oldest stockbroking firm, closed on Monday after it was found it had been lying about its profitability over a period of three years from 2007 to 2009.

This week I intend voting No in the Fiscal Compact referendum, for reasons largely tangential to the Fiscal Compact itself. I will do so in awareness of the risk there is involved were a majority to do as I will do, and in disagreement with many of the claims made by the No side in the campaign. 

I will vote No to reject the incorporation of stringent fiscal rules into our constitution, not because adherence to fiscal rules is not sensible but because, in our political culture, such adherence will be done at the expense of the lower paid.

Much of the treaty debate has revolved around whether Ireland could access more loans if required and whether the treaty will mean greater austerity.  These are important issues, but the even more important issue of democracy has been somewhat neglected by comparison.  Put simply, ratifying the treaty would give its provisions immunity from constitutional challenge and would make it much more difficult to change economic policy through the election of a new government. The wording of what we are being asked to vote on is as follows:

Throughout the debate around the Fiscal Treaty any argument beyond the purely economic has been entirely marginalised; the Overton window on this discussion is a porthole. By Mike Morris.

To be sure...

You’d like to think it must have made some sense at the time, all those weeks ago when the various PR flaks for the Yes side decided that ‘Stability’ and ‘Certainty’ would be the keynotes for their campaign.

A Yes vote in the Fiscal Treaty referendum means denying future Irish generations the right to have the fiscal flexibility to meet their own needs. By David Johnson.

Jenny O'Connor takes a look at some of the main arguments that have circulated throughout the Fiscal Treaty referendum campaign, and concludes that 'there is little to lose in voting No'.

Would Ireland be able to secure a second bailout?

The Yes campaign claim that, in the event of a No vote, Ireland would be denied EU funding should it require a second bailout. The No campaign claim that a second bailout could be secured elsewhere, often citing the IMF as a likely source.

Spain has become the fourth Eurozone member-state to fall out of the markets, and has secured a bailout from Europe - albeit unofficially. By Yanis Varoufakis.

{jathumbnailoff} On Tonight with Vincent Browne this evening, Lucinda Creighton, Paul Murphy, Seán Murphy and Kieran Allen are putting forth their arguments for Yes and No votes in what Vincent described as the programme's "penultimate debate" on the European Fiscal Treaty.