At 16.07 this Tuesday, 3 November, I got a call from one of those who I had worked with in the Ireland for Europe offices to say that some of those from Generation Yes were meeting for drinks later. I had thought at first it was just a meeting in a bar with no particular occasion, till he said “Klaus has signed it”. So there it was confirmed, the Lisbon Treaty had passed all obstacles and delays and would come into effect. For those who worked on the campaign, it was a nice moment to have arrived at.
Now more than a month ago, the result was declared of the 2 October poll was declared, with 1,214,268 votes in favour to 594,606 against, a result of 67% in favour. This was far beyond what most optimistic Yes campaigners had dared to have hoped for and sent a very clear signal that Ireland was favourable towards the institutions of the European Union.
I think it must be acknowledged that the victory would not have been so resounding had it not been for the change in our economic fortunes. I don’t think many actually expected new jobs as a direct result of Lisbon; whatever the simplicity of some of the posters, people understood the broader benefits the EU brought to our economy and would do so to come. As both business and union leaders made it clear that a negative vote would hurt us economically, the public felt little desire to take that risk.
Ireland for Europe is offering a cash prize of €500 to a student who can correctly identify all of lies and misrepresentations in the Libertas ad in the Irish Independent today (01-10-09) and reference the correct article or position. E-mail us on info@irelandforeurope.ie for the terms and conditions. Closing date is 31st of October.
Ireland’s Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney has launched a blistering attack on Irish opponents of the EU Lisbon Treaty, accusing them of manufacturing fear in the referendum campaign. The poet said that if Ireland votes “no” again, the Republic and its people “will have lost ourselves in the modern world”.
In an exclusive interview with the Observer on his views on Europe and the referendum on 2 October, Heaney said the loss for Ireland from a “no” vote was “inestimable”. He said: “I was in Italy when the first referendum came in, and I was distressed for Ireland in Europe because of the kind of refusal of commitment after decades of benefit. It is inestimable, the loss of influence, status and trust that occurred with a ‘no’ vote: it is palpable and real.”
IN THE late stages of last year’s Lisbon campaign, a rumour emerged that Irish people would be conscripted into a European army if the treaty were adopted.
It was a viral story that started from the ground up. Like the phenomenon of Don’t Knows plumping for a No vote, its effect came on to the radar of the national media (and the Yes side) only in the closing days before polling, too late to counter it.
At the comparable phase of this campaign, in a sample of four residential estates in key constituencies, there is strong anecdotal evidence that the attitudes on the ground are markedly different this time.
Paul Muldoon has added his name to an impressive array of the Great and the Good from Northern Ireland who have done sterling cross-community work and whose letter appealing for a Yes vote appeared in the Irish Times at the weekend. In it they say:
Continued membership at the heart of the European Union will help us, North and South, to grow together and to face in partnership the huge economic, social and environmental challenges of the years ahead. This is enabled by our common membership of the European Union and enhanced by the new possibilities offered by the Lisbon Treaty.
With only two days left until the referendum, there’s a sense on the streets that people are tiring of all things Lisbon. While this ennui is certainly understandable, it is vital that complacency does not set in over the next 48 hours. To have fought this hard, to have won over so many voters and to let our lead slip away in the dying days of the campaign is unthinkable.
The polls are very encouraging and many on the ‘yes’ camp are quietly confident that we’ll get Lisbon ratified. I believe that polls are pretty meaningless and that the only poll worth a penny is the one taking place on Friday.
When canvassing on the streets, I have been struck by both people’s desire to learn more about the Treaty and their fury with Fianna Fáil. The desire to punish Brian Cowen et al is palpable. While I can definitely sympathise with this sentiment, there are times when one needs to put the national interest first.
Talking about the European Treaty, Sinn Féin wrote in a pamphlet:
The objective is a United States of Europe with a European army. Irish people will be compelled to fight whatever wars the European super-powers decide to wage. Neutrality will go and compulsory military service for our youth will be introduced.
This was not in reference to the Lisbon Treaty, though. This is a from a pamphlet from 1971 (PDF), in reference to the 1957 Treaty of Rome, which were to vote on our accession to the European Economic Community in 1972.
Sinn Féin has never been pro-EU, whatever its claims, this year or on other occasions. Each Treaty we have voted for was in Sinn Féin’s terms the last stand for Irish neutrality and independence. Unless we believe that they were right on every occasion since 1972, warning of militarization again in 1987, 1992, 1998 and 2002, why should we credit their fears on this occasion?
It was great to see the three main Sunday broadsheets endorsing the Lisbon Treaty this weekend. At a crucial time in the campaign, the editorials all reiterated a fundamental point – that a ‘yes’ vote is in Ireland’s best interests.
The Sunday Independent strongly backed the Treaty, calling on the Irish electorate to:
“respond in kind with an enthusiastic and emphatic endorsement of Lisbon and of Europe.”
Over the weekend, I looked back on the points Declan Ganley made at the launch of Libertas’s campaign two weeks ago.
As I watched this, I found that nearly every point he made could be disputed, if not refuted. Below is a critical analysis of his case.
He begins by stating that this is the same European Constitution that the French and the Dutch rejected, and that we rejected last year, ignoring the key symbolic changes made to the Constitutional text to remove the statelike trappings which were of such concern, and in the Irish case, it ignores the European Council of December 2008 to agreement to keep our Commissioner and the June 2009 agreement with the legally-binding guarantees.
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