CAMPAIGNERS FROM a number of groups opposed to the Lisbon Treaty made presentations to the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs yesterday, arguing that the treaty would undermine workers' rights, usher in a "European super state" with a military dimension and damage the interests and role of small member states like Ireland.
Kieran Allen, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and editor of the voteno.ie website, told the committee that he believed the political establishment was not taking the debate on the Lisbon Treaty seriously.
He accused the Government of a "deliberate" strategy of not making the text of the treaty widely available to the public. He said arguments that Ireland's standing in Europe would be damaged if it failed to ratify the treaty were misplaced.
There was no empirical evidence, he added, to back up claims that foreign direct investment would be hit if Ireland voted against the treaty.
He said he was concerned the treaty would undermine workers rights.
Roger Cole of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance told the committee that if Irish people voted No, they would be "cheered to the rafters" by others in Europe for rejecting a "European super state". On the issue of neutrality, he said it had already been compromised by the US military's use of Shannon airport.
Former Green Party MEP and a member of the anti-treaty People's Movement, Patricia McKenna, said the Lisbon Treaty would establish a "federal EU state".