TAOISEACH'S ADDRESSTHERE IS "not one thing" in the Lisbon Treaty that Ireland should fear, the Taoiseach said last night.
In an impassioned address to members of the Fianna Fáil party in Cavan, Brian Cowen said that 95 per cent of the treaty had been negotiated while Ireland had the presidency of the EU and Irish people had nothing to fear from it.
"We are regarded, and rightly so, as one of the best negotiators that has ever been seen at the Brussels table," he said.
He urged the electorate to reject the "shrill, narrow voices who always say No" and he particularly appealed to what he called "the blessed generation" of young Irish people who benefited from the prosperity which the EU helped bring about.
There were "unfortunately voices in Ireland which pertain to a narrow version of nationalism, and a very isolated view of where Ireland stands," the Taoiseach said.
"I often think leadership is appealing to our higher motives, to our sense of generosity to other people. Our young people need to understand that we have finally overcome our problems of underemployment and emigration - we now live in a different world.
"The European Union has given a voice greater than we could ever expect to have by ourselves." He said the eastern European countries, which had lived under communism, would not understand if Ireland voted No to the Lisbon Treaty.
Mr Cowen said that when he was growing up, eastern European countries lived under totalitarian regimes that did not respect the rights of the individuals and those countries were now looking to Ireland as a successful role model.
"They simply will not understand why it is that the country which has benefited the most, the country that has been a model of social and economic development for them - they will not understand how we would renege, resign and say No to Europe.
"I don't believe for a moment when it is put to the people in this country in this way, that they will say No to Europe. We are a people who are open, are generous and are mature and we want the same for others that we have obtained for ourselves".
He said the loss of a commissioner for five years out of every 15 represented a triumph for small states, as all countries would have to forego their commissioner irrespective of their size.
"This treaty provides an equality of treatment which was not available in previous treaties," he said.
Mr Cowen added that the decision-making process in the Council of Ministers would ensure that any qualified majority voting decisions would need the support of at least nine small countries. Personal and corporation tax rates would not be a matter for national governments and "under no circumstances will that change", he said.
"It is not in any way compromised. We regard that as a matter of national sovereignty."
He also indicated that Ireland would reject the deal on offer for farmers at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks, but said these were far from reaching a conclusion.
"We don't have the right deal on the table at the moment and we won't be accepting it, and that remains a unanimous decision for all the states involved.
"On the 12th of June the issue for our farmers is that, if we say No, does anybody really believe that we are strengthening our hand?"
Mr Cowen praised the Catholic bishops' document released on Thursday, which said that the Lisbon referendum should not be used to register a protest vote and criticised those who sought to introduce "extraneous factors" into the debate.
Mr Cowen said it was an "excellent and fair document".