Lisbon 'most important vote in a generation'

Taoiseach Brian Cowen has described Thursday’s referendum on the Lisbon Treaty as the most important vote in a generation.

In an address to a young Fianna Fáil supporters in Dublin today, Mr Cowen made one of his strongest appeals for a Yes vote to date, insisting the country’s future progress was in the balance.

He said failure to ratify the treaty would marginalise Ireland’s influence in Europe and jeopardise the country’s “hard won” economic gains at a time of global uncertainty.

As both sides intensified their efforts to sway voters, Mr Cowen said: “On Thursday, the people of Ireland face a deeply important choice about the future of this country.”

“Will we move forward as positive members of the European Union or will we take a new and far more uncertain route?"

"For the generation which will shape Ireland in the decades ahead, there is unlikely to be another vote as important as this one,” he said.

Mr Cowen said he was confident the treaty would be passed particularly “when people reflect on the experience the State has had during our membership of the EU”.

“The country will be true to itself and its national character, and vote Yes willingly and enthusiastically so that others who showed solidarity with us can have the same possibility as we had for ourselves,” he said.

But Declan Ganley, the chairman of No campaign group Libertas, said there are almost half a billion people in Europe who have been denied the right to vote on the treaty

In an interview on RTE Radio, Mr Ganley said: “The French and the Dutch have already had a referendum on 96 per cent of what is in this document and they rejected it and their wishes are being ignored.”

“We should not foist the wishes of an unaccountable, unelected elite in Brussels upon our fellow European citizens,” he said.

Mr Ganley said the treaty would create an unelected president and foreign minister of Europe that never has to ask any of us for a vote.”

“It halves Ireland’s voting weight at the European Council while doubling Germany’s and abolishes Ireland’s commissioner for 5 years out of every 15 years

“The consequence of losing a Commissioner for a small country opens the door to interference in our tax and other areas of key economic interests,” he claimed.

With just a few days to go until the vote, political parties and campaigners today stepped up their campaigning as the latest poll signaled a tight race.

The Sunday Business PostRed C poll this morning suggests the pro-treaty side slightly ahead at 42 per cent with the No vote at 39 per cent.

Although the margin is less encouraging for the those opposed to the treaty - after a similar poll in The Irish Timeson Friday put them ahead - the overall trend is a surging No vote.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the latest opinion poll showed people who believed the treaty was good for Ireland and the EU needed to get out and register their vote on June 12th.

“These results confirm that the result will be close, but that the Yes sentiment has held firm in the face of aggressive attacks,” he said.

But Sinn Féin, the only Dáil party that opposes the treaty, insisted people should vote No and seek a better deal.

The party’s Dublin MEP Mary Lou McDonald wants the reform package renegotiated to secure a permanent Irish commissioner in the EU. “The contest remains tight and all is to play for,” she said.

“Clearly a large number of people continue to be concerned about the negative impact of Ireland’s loss of power within the EU, on neutrality, and on workers’ rights and public services.”

The leaders of the three main Dail parties will hold a joint press conference tomorrow to appeal for a Yes vote.

In his speech today, Mr Cowen said: “Despite what opponents may claim, the treaty gives Ireland and small countries full equality in the European Commission.”

“Those who distort the facts and talk of a loss in Irish influence ignore the undeniable reality that Germany with a population roughly eighteen times the size of ours will have exactly the same rights of representation as us on the Commission.”

He also claimed it would help to secure Ireland’s position as a centre for foreign investment and job creation, while retaining out tax veto.

“It allows the EU to work on critical international issues like protecting the environment, tackling climate change and ensuring the security of vital energy supplies in the years ahead,” he said.

“The road we choose will not only determine the shape of our economy, but define our role in the wider world and our destiny for years to come. It is that fundamental,” he said.