DEFENCE:MINISTER FOR Defence Willie O'Dea has been challenged to a public debate on Irish neutrality in the run-up to the second Lisbon Treaty referendum.
Roger Cole, chair of the Peace Neutrality Alliance has called on the Minister to take part in a public debate in the absence of the Forum on Europe, established to promote public debate on the EU but was abolished earlier this year for financial reasons.
However, Mr Cole questioned the Government’s decision to abandon the forum which he claims was “for the simple reason they lost the public debates it organised”.
Mr Cole added: “The TSN/mrbi polls . . . showed that concerns about Irish neutrality and the militarisation of the European Union were among the main reasons why the Irish people voted to reject the Lisbon Treaty.”
A spokesperson for Willie O’Dea said that the Minister would have “no problem” debating with Mr Cole so long as the debate centred on issues which were contained within the treaty and not those which were not.