Greens tell Ahern to ‘put up or shut up’ over remarks

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern and the Government came under fire from the Green Party today, as the No and Yes camps stepped up their…

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern and the Government came under fire from the Green Party today, as the No and Yes camps stepped up their efforts before the 24-hour moratorium on canvassing for Thursday's three referendums.

Mr John Gormley criticised the Taoiseach saying he had made allegations about the No to Nice campaign when he had no evidence to back it up.

He told a Dublin press conference: "That would be like me saying that the Fianna Fáil Yes stance was because they were in collusion with arms dealers. You would make me prove that statement before you printed it. That didn’t happen with the Taoiseach’s comments. He should put up or shut up."

Defending the No campaign, Ms Patricia McKenna said that everyone could see for themselves who was behind the campaign. "The No campaign is very public. Their (the Government) arguments are weak and pathetic," she said.

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Mr Gormley told ireland.comthat the reason the Government and the main opposition parties were so keen to get Nice through was that they could save face in Europe.

"They want to save themselves the red faces of having to go back to Brussels and say they did a botched job," he said.