Whilst Fianna Fail’s formal launch of their campaign for a ‘Yes’ vote on the Lisbon II referendum happens later today, I also hear news that Taoiseach Brian Cowen is attempting to sort out the internal bickering of the 'Yes' campaign by getting some kind of co-ordination started. It had problematic results for them in the original referendum, although it is doubtful that the result was the outcome of internal divisions in the ‘Yes’ campaign; rather, it was rejected in a straightforward manner because of the detrimental impact the Treaty would have. Nevertheless, Cowen may find this new task slightly difficult – the parties not only have varying degrees of Euro-obsession but have widely varying national policies.
Most concerning, however, is the way in which political parties supporting the Yes campaign have tapped into European taxpayer’s money, at a time when about 450,000 Irish people are unemployed, crushed by cuts, taxes, mortgage payments, on top of public bank-bail-outs and yet the frivolous politicians who brought this upon Ireland are also asking for trust over the Lisbon treaty. For example, it is reported this morning, Fianna Fail is looking to obtain €100,000 from the new cash-cow group it joined after the European elections – the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE). There is a choice here for the Irish people and they do not have to accept the squandering of their own money on propagandist half-truths. If the point of a referendum is allowing the people to decide, then frittering away such money to force their point may well turn out to be a disaster.
