LIBERTAS:THE FOUNDER of anti-Lisbon Treaty group Libertas has reiterated his belief that a "better deal" can be negotiated if the Lisbon Treaty is rejected.
The Tuam-based businessman was speaking outside Government Buildings in Dublin, where he and several Libertas canvassers had gathered to show reporters three one-way flight tickets to Brussels Mr Ganley had booked in the names of Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore for June 13th, the day after the referendum.
Mr Ganley said Irish voters should tell the three party leaders to go back to Brussels "so that we can start to negotiate a better deal for the Irish people and a better deal for Europe".
He described the deal that had been negotiated by Ireland in the Lisbon Treaty as an "embarrassment".
Earlier, at a joint press conference held by the three party leaders, Labour's Eamon Gilmore said those claiming Ireland should attempt to renegotiate the treaty were "conveniently vague" about what a new deal would entail or how it would be achieved.
Asked what evidence he had that a better deal was possible, Mr Ganley replied: "Common sense. We can't get a worse deal than what's in this treaty."
He repeated the arguments that Libertas has put at the heart of its campaign against the treaty, including claims that it would open "back doors" in a number of policy areas, including taxation.
"We have to keep our commissioner; we cannot have our voting weight halved at the European Council while Germany's is doubled; we need a protocol on taxation to protect our competitiveness economically, and if there is going to be a president of Europe and a foreign minister of Europe these people need to be democratically accountable," he said.
Asked about the Yes camp's dismissal of Libertas's arguments as "scare-mongering", he said: "The only scare-mongering going on is coming from the Yes side, predicting doom, gloom, unemployment and all of these other ridiculous things if there is a No vote."