THE IRISH GOVERNMENT will tomorrow complete the process of joining the yet-to-be-established European Stability Mechanism, after the Supreme Court refused to grant an injunction to an independent TD seeking to stop the process.
The government said this evening that formal instruments of ratification of the European Stability Mechanism Treaty would be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Council of Europe in Brussels tomorrow, after the Supreme Court’s ruling today.
Earlier today the Court denied a request by independent TD Thomas Pringle to temporarily block the ratification of the treaty, dismissing arguments that the ESM and the treaty establishing it were contrary to the Irish Constitution.
The Supreme Court’s consideration means there is now no longer any impediment to the State ratifying the treaty.
A separate arm to Pringle’s challenge – concerning whether the ESM Treaty, and the European Council decision to change existing EU treaties so that any new bailout fund is not illegal, were themselves legal under EU law – remains active.
The Supreme Court has already referred three questions, dealing with whether the treaties are legal, to the European Court of Justice to secure an authoritative legal interpretation from the EU’s highest court.
The Irish proceedings have been adjourned pending the ECJ’s advice.
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