LABOUR PARTY:LABOUR PARTY leader Eamon Gilmore has expressed concern that the "very understandable anger" among members of the public over issues such as the Fás controversy and the Government's general performance would have a negative impact on the referendum vote.
Mr Gilmore said in Galway yesterday that the margin between support for and opposition to the treaty was “much closer” in the two recent opinion polls – The Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll published last Friday and the Sunday Business Post/Red C tracking survey at the weekend.
Mr Gilmore expressed concern at a “degree of complacency on the part of people who were inclined to vote Yes (and who believed) that the business is already decided”.
“It’s not, and it will be important that every individual citizen gets out to vote,” the Labour leader added.
“We’ve been at pains to point out that we will deal with Fianna Fáil in the election and people should not cut off their future to fight Fianna Fáil.”
At a press briefing after a walkabout in Galway city, Mr Gilmore said: “I think we have to vote with our heads on Friday.
“Passing the Lisbon Treaty is a really important decision, and there’s no point in making things worse. Defeating the Lisbon Treaty will make things worse,” he said.
“We will deal with Fianna Fáil . . . that’s a separate issue,” he said.
Mr Gilmore declined to comment on what action if any he might take over the stance of one of his party councillors in Galway city.
Collette Connolly has expressed her opposition to the treaty in public.
“We have our procedures and I don’t want to get into that right now,” Mr Gilmore said.
“I’m much more concerned with the 200-plus Labour public representatives who are supporting the treaty and who are doing a great job.
“I think there is a misplaced view among some people that somehow it is radical or it is anti-establishment to vote against the treaty,” Mr Gilmore continued.
“People are arguing that if you vote this down, you’ll get something better – you will in my eye get something better,” he said.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Gilmore engaged in a debate on Galway Bay FM radio with the leader of Libertas, Declan Ganley, which was chaired by broadcaster Keith Finnegan.
Mr Ganley accused Mr Gilmore of being “the man who said the Lisbon Treaty was dead after the last referendum and now he is out trying to sell his used car again”.
Mr Gilmore referred to the American Chamber of Commerce survey which indicated that 93 per cent of chief executives of US companies believed that a No vote would lead to a loss of future investment in Ireland and consequent employment opportunities.
Given the public anger over the Government, the “easiest thing to do” would be to urge a No vote, Mr Gilmore added, but he believed that the treaty was “very important for this country”.
Mr Ganley quoted from newspapers the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, stating that the international financial media believed the opposite.
However, Fianna Fáil TD Jimmy Dooley challenged this in a statement yesterday, pointing out that the Financial Times report which Mr Ganley had quoted from on radio was an opinion column, while yesterday’s editorial in the same newspaper was urging a Yes vote, under the headline “Yes please, Ireland”.