LABOUR PARTY:LABOUR LEADER Eamon Gilmore, SDLP leader Mark Durkan and Sinn Féin supporters engaged in sharp verbal exchanges on the campaign trail in Co Louth yesterday.
Sinn Féin members, led by local councillor Tomás Sharkey, disrupted a Labour press conference in Dundalk where the groups traded taunts over what a Yes vote in Friday’s referendum would mean for the State’s future.
Mr Gilmore said he and Mr Durkan believed Lisbon was a good treaty for the entire island which was important in the interest of jobs and investment, positioning Ireland at the heart of Europe and protecting workers’ rights. “It hooks into the European treaties the right to full employment, the right to social services, the right to join a trade union and the right to collective bargaining,” he said.
One Sinn Féin supporter heckled: “Eamon Gilmore is fighting to save Brian Cowen’s job.” He responded: “I do understand that people are angry at the Government, the Labour Party shares that anger . . . but on Friday I think we have to avoid the temptation of political opportunism and make a decision in the interest of the country.”
Mr Durkan said Europe was in a different position to where it was when the Irish electorate rejected Lisbon last year.
“This time there is a clear and present danger,” he said, “of a Tory government being elected in England. A Tory government that would be the most eurosceptic British government we have ever seen . . . If Lisbon is stalled, Europe isn’t able to go anywhere.”
Mr Durkan said the negotiations that would take place after a No vote would not touch on any of the improvements those campaigning against the treaty wanted. “The negotiations will be on the basis of a wrecking agenda of David Cameron and the British Tories. They will pull down budgets that will cost Ireland dearly and directly. David Cameron will want to have his Thatcher moment of clawing back money from the EU.”
Mr Gilmore said, spurious arguments aside, most groups had campaigned reasonably. However, the attempts to hijack the press conference were “bully boy tactics” and a measure of the No campaign’s “desperation and the fact they are losing the argument and are now turning to a tactic of shouting people down”.
“It’s about free speech,” Mr Sharkey said. “900,000 people have already voted this treaty down.”
Mr Gilmore responded: “Some of the people who are here shouting me down are the people who said the Nice Treaty would be a disaster for this country, which it was not . . . This is pure political opportunism.”
Mr Durkan said it was a pity the event had been disrupted and described the No group’s appearance as “reminiscent of the tactics of dissident groups” who had interfered in policing meetings in Derry.
He also said his involvement in the campaign was not similar to that of the UK Independence Party as he was Irish and invited to participate by the Labour Party.
Following the press conference, Mr Sharkey said: “We’re challenging Eamon Gilmore to oppose the Lisbon Treaty as it will only make our economic crisis worse.”