Madam, – Eamon Gilmore warns about people punishing Fianna Fáil by voting No to the Lisbon Treaty (Home News, September 1st). What he ought to worry about is his own credibility, having been reported as saying, after the treaty’s rejection last year, that he strongly believed that the treaty was dead and could not be revisited. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Whatever one’s view on the Lisbon Treaty, it seems ridiculous to me that a public limited company such as Ryanair can spend an unlimited sum of shareholders’ funds campaigning in favour of the treaty without even registering with the Standards in Public Offices Commission or providing any detailed information on its reasons for so doing.
Is it really correct that, given the following points, such a company should involve itself with the Government in campaigning for the Lisbon Treaty? Ryanair is a joint shareholder with the State in the national airline Aer Lingus; it was involved in a proposed takeover of Aer Lingus; it tenders to the State to operate regional flights within the State; it deals with State bodies on an ongoing basis in the negotiation of airport charges; it lobbies the state on airport taxes, and is involved in ongoing negotiations with the European Commission on numerous financial issues.
Ryanair has chosen to involve itself in this campaign and must come clean on its agenda. In particular, who on the Ryanair board lobbied to spend massive sums on the Lisbon Treaty campaign and what is their agenda? The public and the shareholders have a right to know. – Yours, etc,
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Madam, – The launch of the most recent anti-Lisbon group (Home News, August 31st) is an opportunity to clarify the facts about the Lisbon Treaty.
Cóir’s claim that the minimum wage could or might drop to €1.84 were the Lisbon Treaty to be passed is false and misleading. The European Union has no power to set minimum wages across the EU.
It has no power because the member countries have never given it that power. The Lisbon Treaty will not change the position whereby individual countries control their own minimum wage. Cóir has not pointed to a single treaty provision under which such a power exists.
Cóir’s argument that the Lisbon Treaty will mean that we lose the right to decide our values is utterly untrue. The claims that the legal position in Ireland on euthanasia, family law and abortion will be altered if the Lisbon Treaty is passed are dishonest and deceptive. Cóir’s arguments are not new.
They are the same emotional and negative arguments which they have made at every European referendum and which have never come to pass.
Our current legal position is copper-fastened with a Yes vote. A Yes vote to the Lisbon Treaty package will not in any way impact on Ireland’s laws on abortion.
The claim by Cóir that Ireland will lose power if the Lisbon Treaty is passed is incorrect. Only by voting Yes to the Treaty will the Irish parliament’s powers in passing EU law be increased. It is not true that two-thirds of our laws originate in Brussels. The real figure is 28 per cent.
Cóir has deliberately misrepresented the voting system under the Lisbon Treaty which protects the interests of the smaller countries and their citizens and has ignored the real influence which Ireland can continue to have if we vote Yes to the Lisbon Treaty.
Cóir’s repeated attempts to scare Irish voters not only runs counter to the understanding of the Lisbon Treaty held by every European government but also to the advice of the Irish Attorney General, Impact (the largest Irish public sector trade union) and the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmiud Martin.
Irish voters deserve to make their minds up on the basis of facts and not scare stories. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Minimum wage of €1.84 and loss of freedom? Who is scaremongering now? The Clueless Organisation Inciting Rage.
Would the parties endorsing a Yes vote please get off the blocks and highlight the positives! – Yours, etc,