IRISH MEPs have called on the Catholic Church to take a stand against the monthly newspaper Alivefor publishing an advert claiming the Lisbon Treaty could lead to the detention of children of mild alcoholics.
At the launch of the Europe for Ireland campaign in Brussels yesterday, Marian Harkin MEP said the claims made in the advert were “disgraceful” and “deliberately constructed to frighten people”.
“I have had calls from carers who read this and are worried the treaty could lead to children being taken into care and for the seizure of possessions from people suffering from depression or alcoholism,” said Ms Harkin.
The advert, which was placed by the anti-Lisbon group Éire go Brách, alleges that under the treaty “the EU could seize elderly people’s savings and homes and can take children off people who suffer from mild forms of alcoholism or depression, or who do not own a family home”.
It also quotes a paragraph that it claims is contained in Article 6 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights – a new rights charter that will be made legally binding if the treaty is ratified. In fact, Article 6 of the charter simply states that “everyone has the right to liberty and security”.
Éire go Brách is a Cork-based group opposing the treaty. The group's campaign director Máire de Faoite said the paragraph quoted in the advert in Alivewas contained in an explanatory note on the charter, which was contained in a consolidated version of the EU treaties. She denied the group was scaremongering by selectively reading different EU texts to spread irrational fears that would confuse the public. The group's website claims the treaty would make Ireland a subject province of an EU empire, force abortion on Ireland and create an EU immigration plantation that would destroy Irish identity.
Ms Harkin said the church should take action to ensure that Aliveis not being distributed in the porches of any of its churches.
Fine Gael MEP Mairéad McGuinness said the advert was scandalous, and the church needed to take on any groups that made statements in its name.
A spokesman for the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference said the only official publication provided by the church was the magazine Intercom. He said removing unauthorised material from church property was a matter for parish priests, and was something that many already undertook to do.
Fr Brian McKevitt, managing editor of Alive, said it was interesting that liberals who proclaim to be in favour of freedom of speech often want to silence criticism. He said he would not comment on the veracity of the advertisement's claims. "People have to judge for themselves the advert, like they do for adverts for plumbers in other newspapers," he added.
Alivedescribes itself as a Catholic monthly newspaper which is a response to pope John Paul II's call for "an evangelisation that is new in its fervour, new in its methods and new in its expression". It had a circulation of 359,000 per month, with copies delivered door-to-door or left in churches.
Europe for Ireland, which was launched by nine of Ireland’s 12 MEPs yesterday, is a campaign group seeking a Yes vote in the referendum. It was set up by Irish people working in Brussels.