A coalition of anti-war groups has accused the Referendum Commission of being “utterly biased” in suggesting Ireland’s neutrality will be unaffected by the Lisbon Treaty.
At a joint press conference in Dublin today, several organisations campaigning for a No vote claimed the commission was deliberately playing down elements of the treaty which dealt with the creation a common defence policy and the inherent threat these posed to Irish neutrality.
Irish Anti-War Movement chairman Richard Boyd Barret said it was “patently nonsense, even from a cursory reading of the text” to suggest Irish neutrality would be unaffected.
Mr Boyd Barret said Article 28 of the treaty clearly sets out the agenda for a more militarised European Union and creates the legal basis for a European army.
“Although a common defence policy had to be agreed in line with the constitutional requirements of member states, it did not alter the fact that there will be a common defence policy,” he said.
“By signing up to this we are signing up to the idea that there will be a common defence in Europe which Ireland will be part of.”
Carol Fox of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) said her organisation was extremely concerned about the information being disseminated by the Referendum Commission regarding defence and military issues contained in the treaty.
Ms Fox said PANA had written to the Commission complaining that its summary of the treaty, sent to each household last month, contained no mention of the permanent structural cooperation between member states in areas of defence envisaged under the treaty.
"Or the fact that the treaty is going to allow for mini military alliances to be established within the EU and for a core group of states to go forward to form a common defence policy"
PANA's chairman Roger Cole said that under the leadership of the Yes campaigners, Ireland had become "essentially a US aircraft carrier and an integral part of George Bush's war machine".
He said: "These politicians have totally destroyed Ireland's long-standing policy of neutrality which has been an integral part of the State's foreign policy since its foundation".
