SINN FÉIN:SINN FÉIN vice-president Mary Lou McDonald has criticised remarks made by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso at the weekend. She claimed he was being "dishonest on the impact of a second No vote on the economy''.
Speaking on a visit to Limerick on Saturday, Mr Barroso described as “intellectually and politically dishonest’’ some of the suggestions made in campaign literature published by the No side. He insisted Ireland stood to gain from approving the treaty.
Yesterday Ms McDonald told a Dublin press conference that Mr Barroso had told her party colleague Northern Ireland MEP Bairbre de Brun this month that there would be no discrimination against Ireland if there was a No vote. However, said Ms McDonald, Mr Barroso’s message in Ireland at the weekend was very different.
“Commissioner Barroso knows perfectly well that Ireland has no intention of leaving the EU. He also knows that rejecting the Lisbon Treaty will have no negative impact on inward investment or job-creation. Despite this fact, he repeated many of the scaremongering claims of the Yes side.’’
Ms McDonald said those same claims were made by treaty supporters last year. “They were wrong then, and they are wrong now. In July of this year the IDA confirmed that 2008 saw a 14 per cent increase on foreign direct investment on the previous year.’’
Ms McDonald said the biggest threat to investment and job-creation was the Government and its failed economic policies. “These same failed policies, undermining workers’ rights, family farms and public services are also contained in the Lisbon Treaty.’’