Ireland has benefited disproportionately from EU largesse during its 35 years of membership, and, in 2008, was still receiving a net sum of €500 million from the EU budget. When voters are reminded of the potentially catastrophic cost of being excluded, not just from the Single Market area, but from the decision-making structures in the Council of Ministers and the European Central Bank, what is at stake in the referendum becomes clear.
因此第二次公投活动就引出了爱尔兰欧盟成员国资格在经济方面的议题，而这方面在2008年第一次公投时却是被忽略的。爱尔兰在成为欧盟成员国的35年内几乎享受了不成比例的好处，到了2008年时还从欧盟预算中净赚了5亿欧元。当选民们认识到被欧盟排除在外的潜在灾难性后果，而且不仅被“欧盟单一市场”区域排除在外，更要被踢出欧盟部长理事会和欧洲中央银行的决策架构的话，公投所代表的利害关系就一目了然了。