NO CAMPAIGN REACTION:THE "UNPRECEDENTED well-financed grand coalition of the political establishment, big business, most of the print media and the EU authorities" delivered a Yes vote, the leader of the Socialist Party, Joe Higgins, said after the result emerged.
“Bullying and fear was combined with extravagant promises about jobs and economic recovery. I congratulate those voters who stood up against the intimidation and threats and voted No,” said the MEP for Dublin.
He added: “I understand the anxiety of many who voted Yes in the hope of better job prospects and security.”
The Yes side had instilled “enormous fear” in an electorate already worried about jobs and the economy.
“We had a huge coalition of the Government, the main parties that are supposedly in opposition in the Dáil, big business and the very biggest part of the printed press, who became vigorous players for the Yes side rather than commentators or analysts,” he said.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said: “To those hundreds of thousands of people who again voted No, I want to congratulate them for doing so in the face of huge pressure, including threats that a No vote would have negative implications for jobs and the economy.
“You had the courage to make a stand for a better deal and to stand by the values of decency, citizenship, fairness and democracy.
“It is no surprise that there was a class divide in how people voted – those who gained little over the Celtic Tiger era were not swayed by promises from the Yes side of employment and prosperity,” he said.
Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the Government should take no solace from the result of the Lisbon Treaty referendum.
“The Government and their supporters in Fine Gael and Labour now have to deliver and demonstrate that their arguments will indeed change the economic condition in terms of recovery [and] the creation of jobs.”
Libertas leader Declan Ganley criticised the Yes side for focusing the campaign on jobs and economic recovery. “Let’s see in a year from now whether these things prove to be the case.”
However, he congratulated the Taoiseach, saying Mr Cowen had received a “mandate of sorts” following a “superb” political campaign.
“I would like to congratulate Brian Cowen, because he fought from a political standpoint a phenomenal campaign; has made vassals of the Opposition and I think has a huge endorsement for his leadership as Taoiseach.”
Patricia McKenna, chairwoman of the People’s Movement and former MEP, described the result as “inevitable”. The result was not really a vote of support for the treaty, she said.
“The fears and insecurities of voters were skilfully tapped into by an illegally over-funded Yes campaign to ensure that people voted not out of certainty but out of fear.”
Ms McKenna criticised what she described as a “cosy consensus” of political parties backing a Yes vote. “This void has to be filled by new political forces untarnished by corruption, greed, the ideology of ‘power for power’s sake’.”
Cóir spokesman Brian Hickey described the result as a “shock” because he had been under the impression the No side was going to win. “The majority of people I’d spoken to on doorsteps, who’d told me how they were intending to vote, had said they were voting No.”
Richard Boyd Barrett of the People Before Profit Alliance said the Government and other parties advocating a Yes vote now had a huge responsibility. “They asked people to vote on the basis that they were voting for jobs and economic recovery; I won’t hold my breath on that.”
National Platform director Anthony Coughlan said “the bankrupt Irish political establishment” had “opted through stupidity and fear to clamp an undemocratic constitution on itself and most of Europe”.
The result was “a victory for bully boys, the big money men and the bureaucrats”, according to United Kingdom Independence Party leader (UKIP) Nigel Farage.
“I’ve no doubt that Ryanair will take over Aer Lingus now fairly quickly. You’ll look back on this in years to come and say that was the day that we lost our independence.”
