We can now see the clear messages from the Yes campaign on lamp posts all over the country on why we should vote for the Treaty, in marked contrast to the ludicrous claims on the Cóir posters that went up over the weekend.
Ireland for Europe, We Belong, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael took to the streets yesterday to pitch their messages to the public with a variety of reasons to vote Yes coming across. Variations on the need for Ireland to be in Europe and how crucial Europe will be for aiding our economic recovery have been adopted as slogans, in addition to the need to secure Ireland’s future place in a democratic Europe.
Ireland for Europe is leading the charge with modern, dynamic posters reflecting people’s everyday concerns. We assert that this decision is a “Simple” one. We have three different messages on our posters, each placed between It’s Simple, and The Choice is Yours. These include: We Need Europe, I’m Safer in Europe and I want a Strong Voice in Europe. The concerns outlined are at the heart of the Treaty, and we’re sending positive and engaging messages out, rather than mistruths and fabrications. It is important that everyone takes responsibility for their own vote and make up their own minds based on the facts.
Furthermore, we’re letting the people decide, along with We Belong, whose succinct You Decide urges them to exercise their rights. The political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, opt to use words only to emphasize their points adhering to the traditional European colours of yellow and blue for the most part.
Fine Gael’s slogans are concise, with one poster stating Yes to Recovery, and another Yes to Jobs. Fianna Fáil’s contain more text than other groups, and again, focus on how Ireland is stronger within the Union. However, the statement: Yes for the Economy might provoke criticism from the No side and the public alike. But this is about the future of the economy, not the mistakes they’ve made in past. Regardless of who is in government, Europe is essential to getting Ireland back to work.
Nice to see they’ve kept their FF logo as small as their candidates did at the local elections. Similarly in the case of Fine Gael, whose posters containing text are much more effective than the ones featuring Enda Kenny.
Featuring some emphatic and hard hitting statements, the Yes campaign is ensuring that it is visible, so that when October 2nd comes around, it will hopefully have swayed some undecided voters. While noting that the democratic right of each citizen is extremely important and is encouraged by the Yes campaign by including it on their posters, (there is no mention of “your decision” or the option of a choice on the Cóir posters), the benefits of voting Yes are more than apparent from all groups.
Tags: fianna fail, fine gael, posters, we belong
A yes vote in not a vote for europe or even for the European Union. It is a vote for the Lisbon Treaty. Why do FG need to tell such blatant lies? Is the Treaty itself not sellable to the public?
Not one argument on the actual issue ! If Ireland votes “No” again, it will – again – be a vote against *this* treaty by the most pro-EU electorate in the Union. If the bogeymen choose, perversely, to interpret it as a vote “against Europe”, it will be the fault of the groups lauded above.
You will not be forgiven.
How in Gods name is it right or justified to attack the opposition and keep saying that its all “lies” when the yes crowd wont tell the truth. A NO vote seems safer than a YES, why open pandoras box with a yes?
Most of these posters are discussing actual treaty content. The FG poster says “Yes to Jobs”. The opening pages of the treaty commit the union to a policy of full employment.
The Ireland for Europe poster suggests people are safer in Europe which is apt as their is a section on cross-border crime prevention.