YES CAMPAIGN:A LOBBYIST has issued an "urgent appeal" to EU lobbying firms for donations of up to €30,000 to help a pro-Lisbon group campaign for a Yes vote.
Europe for Ireland, which was set up by Irish people working in Brussels, is trying to raise €500,000 to spend on adverts calling for a Yes vote in the final weeks of the campaign.
An e-mail sent on behalf of the group to firms in the European Public Affairs Consultancy Association this week says the situation in Ireland is “truly an emergency” and warns the future of “Europe is at stake”.
Eamonn Bates, director of the Brussels-based lobbying firm Eamonn Bates, who sent the e-mail to lobbying and public relations firms, also wrote that he did not think a second referendum should have been held by the Government. “Personally, I do not think it was right to ask the Irish to vote again. However, now there is a rerun, I am convinced it would be wrong to allow a second No vote to occur,” said Mr Bates.
“Powerful and misleading campaigning against the Lisbon Treaty is under way and making inroads once again. Declan Ganley, who was so destructive in the first campaign, has re-entered the public debate bringing considerable financial resources to bear.”
He continued in the e-mail: “If your company believes in a strong EU, then now is definitely the time to contribute financially.”
The e-mail was sent to The Irish Times by the director of Whitehouse Consultancy, Chris Whitehouse, who said it was inappropriate for European lobbyists to get involved in the Irish debate.
“The Irish electorate are likely to take a very dim view of commercial lobbyists entering the debate simply to protect their own profits, derived in part from lobbying the very institutions that would benefit most from a Yes vote for the treaty,” wrote Mr Whitehouse in a response to the request.
Europe for Ireland said Mr Bates offered to help raise funds and the organisation had not seen the e-mail before it was sent. “Obviously we don’t agree with his position that the treaty should not have been put to a second vote,” said Jim Murray, director of communications with Europe for Ireland.
Europe for Ireland’s approach to lobbying firms to support the Yes campaign follows fresh claims from a Dutch-based NGO that the European Commission is paying public relations firms to advocate for a Yes vote.
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), which campaigns against lobbying in Brussels, said Edelman Ireland were engaged in “advocacy” for a Yes vote via a €1.56 million commission contract signed earlier this year. The NGO said the commission promised in February that the contract would not be “involved in any advocacy or publicity campaign ahead of the second referendum”.
However it said the €1.56 million contract was being used to organise events, set up the website talktoeu.ie and Twitter, Bebo, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr websites.
“Successful or not, these websites clearly show that talktoeu.ie is engaging in ‘advocacy and publicity ahead of the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty’, contrary to what Commissioner Margot Wallstrom’s spokesman said back in February,” said Eric Wesselius, co-director of the CEO.
The commission rejected the allegation yesterday and said its role in the run-up to the referendum was not to put pressure on the Irish to vote Yes but to provide facts and information and a platform for debate.