'Stream of lies' on Lisbon - Ukip leader

The Irish people are being told a "constant stream of lies" about the Lisbon Treaty, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip), Nigel Farage has said.

Speaking in Dublin today, Mr Farage said the treaty was being "rammed through in the most undemocratic way" with the previous referendum being "wilfully ignored". He was speaking at a press conference of the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) grouping in the European Parliament; Ukip accounts for almost half the membership.

The group is distributing an eight-page leaflet advocating a No vote to every home in the country, at a cost of €170,000. The leaflet, which has been heavily criticised by Yes campaigners, claims 75 million Turks will get free movement within the EU if the treaty is passed, and says tens of thousands of Irish workers may see their wages lowered or their jobs displaced.

Funding for the leaflet, Mr Farage revealed, is coming from the European Parliament's information budget, which was created to help political parties tell people about the EU.

He said the group's legal advice was that it was entitled to spend the money in this way. "If we weren't using it, someone else would."

He also denied that the leaflet was being published by Ukip alone. "There has been a deliberate attempt to say this is a Ukip campaign in Ireland. This is not true, and we wouldn't do it because it would be illegal. We're not putting a penny in."

Some 18 of the 32 members of the group have signed up to the leaflet, according to Timo Soini, a Finnish MEP and chair of the EFD group, of which 13 are Ukip MEPs.

Mr Farage said the Irish people were being lied to by their politicians. The Lisbon treaty was the EU Constitution in all but name and it wasn't true to say nothing would change if it were passed, he said, adding the treaty was about creating a global superpower in Europe - and to pretend otherwise was ridiculous.

Mr Farage welcomed the return of Declan Ganley to the No campaign but said he hadn't spoken to the Libertas leader.

Members of Generation Yes and Labour Youth staged a protest outside the city centre hotel in which the press conference was held. The group carried posters such as "UK Interference Party" and "Mind your own business" and claimed Ukip was a racist party.

This was angrily denied by Mr Farage, who said he was surprised that the Irish political class was resorting to such "gutter" comments. "We are non-sectarian, non-racist parties who have come together because of our belief in political sovereignty," he said.