NO CAMPAIGNERS:THE PRO-LISBON campaign would pay "a dear price" in tomorrow's referendum for trying to "pull the wool" over the eyes of the Irish people, Libertas leader Declan Ganley has said.
“They put a gun to our heads; the gun is empty; there is nothing harmful that can come from a No vote,” he told reporters at Dublin’s Merrion Square yesterday.
“The only sane vote is a No vote.”
The Libertas leader was speaking after unveiling a new mobile billboard with a picture of the Taoiseach and the slogan: “Three more years of Cowen or three more days, this time make them listen: Vote No.”
Asked if Libertas would be running in the next general election, he replied that there were “no plans for that at the moment”.
Socialist MEP Joe Higgins described the Yes to Lisbon campaign as a carrot and stick approach.
“In case the carrot doesn’t work they’ve pulled out the stick of threatening that we’ll have a strike of investment, we’ll have a flight of capital, foreign capital won’t come here,” which he claimed was an “absolute falsehood”.
Mr Higgins was speaking as he and other members of the umbrella group Say No to Lisbon campaigned outside the GPO in Dublin yesterday evening. During the rush-hour canvass they used a megaphone to appeal to passersby to vote No.
Campaign group Women Say No to Europe has called for curbs on expenditure by large corporations in referendum campaigns and sharply criticised advertising by Ryanair that “could hardly be called accurate”.
In its final press conference before the Lisbon Treaty referendum, the group also claimed the treaty was “out of date and out of step”. It favoured the market and large corporations over the interests of ordinary citizens, and would result in increased privatisation of health services.
Chairwoman Ailbhe Smyth said many people had “rightly questioned the funding of campaign group Libertas but there seems to be no questions asked about the funding wealthy corporations such as Ryanair and Intel could invest to sway a campaign. There must be regulation and oversight of the funding by large corporations on either side of a campaign”.
Independent Dublin Central TD Maureen O’Sullivan attended the press conference endorsing the No campaign, which is also supported by 24 female councillors, including two Labour party politicians, Cllr Collette Connolly, Galway, and Cllr Jane Dillon Byrne, Dún Laoghaire.