EU: Ireland's EU Commissioner, Mr Charlie McCreevy, has said he intends to play an active role in the Irish referendum on the European constitution, which is expected to be held in the autumn.
The former minister for finance, now Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, said yesterday he would be taking part in the Yes campaign, but not on behalf of any particular party.
He warned against "scare tactics" suggesting that the constitution would facilitate abortion and euthanasia. "We have had those scare tactics used in every European referendum that I can remember since the early 1990s and nothing has come to pass."
Mr McCreevy was speaking to reporters in Strasbourg shortly after the European Parliament voted by 500 votes to 137, with 40 abstentions, to endorse a report backing the constitution.
He said the rules pertaining to his position allowed him to take part in political activity.
"Commissioners are not debarred from playing a quite active political role in their own member-states. In fact, in the Code of Conduct - which was amazing to me - there is a particular line that you are not debarred from political activity at all. You will remember that [ former Commission president] Mr Prodi played an active role in recent Italian elections, and so have other people.
"If the Irish Commissioner was to play that type of role in domestic politics it might be frowned upon in Ireland, but it is not debarred as such.
"I don't intend to play any role in Irish domestic political affairs but, regarding European affairs, I certainly will be playing a role there."
On reports that his son, Charles jnr, had decided not to seek the Fianna Fáil nomination for his father's Dáil seat in the Kildare by-election, Mr McCreevy said: "I never saw him express an indication that he was going to go in any event."
Asked about Sinn Féin's concerns over EU militarisation as a result of adopting the constitution, he said: "Well, they have a fair lot of expertise about militarisation, I will accept that."
Meanwhile, both Sinn Féin MEPs, Ms Bairbre de Brun and Ms Mary Lou McDonald, voted No yesterday on the basis that the report presented to the Parliament about the constitution was a "partisan" document.
"The European Parliament and Commission must not interfere with the democratic process in each member-state," Ms McDonald said.
The Independent MEP for the Ireland South constituency, Ms Kathy Sinnott, also vote No, but the Independent for North and West, Ms Marian Harkin, voted Yes. The five Fine Gael and four Fianna Fáil MEPs voted Yes, as did Labour's Mr Proinsias de Rossa.
Ulster Unionist Mr Jim Nicholson and Mr Jim Allister, of the Democratic Unionist Party, both voted No.
Seven Polish MEPs who belong to the same cross-party Union for Europe of the Nations (UEN) group in the parliament as Fianna Fáil voted No to the report. All are members of Poland's Law and Justice opposition party.
The European No Campaign urged all 25 member-states to hold referendums since a majority still intend dealing with the constitution at parliamentary level.
In addition, public funds should not be used to support the Yes campaign and, if any state rejected it, the constitution should be abandoned, the campaign said.