The revelation in a secret Government memo that spending may have to be cut by €900 million was yet another reason for voters to reject the forthcoming referendum on the Nice Treaty, the Tipperary South Independent TD, Mr Seamus Healy, said last night.
Speaking at a Forum on Europe meeting in the Anner Hotel, Thurles, he reiterated his call to the electorate to vote No to punish the Government for misleading them on the state of the country's finances before the general election and as a way of ensuring a stop is put to planned cutbacks.
"The Nice Treaty comes down to a question of trust in the Government. Can the electorate trust the Government, which so dishonestly misled them in the recent general election, a Government that is fundamentally dishonest and arrogant? Can that Government be trusted on the issue of the Nice Treaty? My answer is No," he said.
Mr Healy said the referendum on October 19th represented the last opportunity for people to vote against planned Government cuts before they were made.
"The revelation of planned huge cuts in existing levels of services in Sunday newspapers has vindicated my decision to place the cuts at the centre of the campaign against the Nice Treaty," he said.
When Mr Healy indicated last week that this would be his position, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, branded the strategy "highly irresponsible".
Mr Healy said last night it was the Taoiseach's behaviour which represented the height of irresponsibility. "Is this the Taoiseach who fraudulently deceived the electorate on the budgetary position during the recent election and then unveiled a programme of cuts after a few days in office?" he asked.
Mr Healy stressed that a No vote would not stop EU enlargement. Moreover, he said "alarmist statements" about the dire economic consequences of voting No to Nice were a form of bullying.
His position was challenged by the other keynote speaker at the forum debate, Mr Gay Mitchell, Fine Gael's foreign affairs spokesman. He said that using the Nice Treaty referendum to punish the Government for abandoned election promises was asking people to pay yet again for the Government's behaviour.
The whole objective of extending the EU was to have peace and stability in Europe.