THE FORTHCOMING Lisbon Treaty referendum was the most important of the seven referendums held since we joined what is today the EU, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said yesterday.
Speaking at the official opening of the 23rd Humbert School in Ballina, Co Mayo, he said debate on the forthcoming referendum would “mark a defining moment for Ireland. It will make a fundamental statement about our future”.
He also said that “the fundamental economic necessity of the EU for Ireland is overwhelming”. It was “an essential partner for us on the road to recovery”.
One of the things, he said, that had to be made clear at the beginning of the debate this time “is that it is no simple rerun of last year’s [Lisbon] referendum. The proposal before the people involves a comprehensive response to the democratic will of the people.”
This meant that “in addition to the agreement to retain a commissioner for every state, the legal guarantees now mean that there is absolutely no reason for doubt about the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on the areas of greatest concern to the Irish people”.
Yet, Mr Martin noted that, “just as the arguments against the treaty last year were routinely contradictory, the attacks on what has been achieved through negotiations have been split between those which say they address the wrong issues and those who say they address the right issues but are worthless”.
As an example, he pointed to those who last year demanded the retention of a commissioner and were now saying such retention was irrelevant. Sinn Féin was “out front so far on this cynical tactic”, he said.
As for those who said the guarantees were themselves worthless, he said such arguments were “based on a core belief that we should distrust everything that comes from Europe”.
He pointed out that, particularly where Ireland was concerned, “in the 17 years since the Maastricht protocol relating to our abortion laws was agreed, it has been fully respected”.
It was not possible “to ignore the need for a reformed and more effective union”, he said. “Most importantly, while the union has made valuable contributions to tackling fiscal and financial crises, it has been directly hampered by a lack of consistent leadership,” he added. He pointed out that “in the last 15 months there have been five different presidents of the European Council – making even the more simple negotiations more difficult”.
“This, he said, had “been to the benefit of no one”.
Where broadcasters were concerned “few people can have realistically been enlightened by panel discussions which involved people talking over each other and the presenter merely calling time”.
And, what he described as “the absurd outcomes of a strict stop-watch approach” to campaign coverage must be avoided.
There was, he said, “nothing democratic about lone individuals getting coverage on main news bulletins because they called for a No, while organisations representing thousands were ignored because they were on the more crowded Yes side.”
Humbert director John Cooney appealed last night for a large turnout tomorrow when the school will debate “Child Protection Post-Ryan”.
Three special awards will also be presented on behalf of the school to Mr Justice Seán Ryan, chairman of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, journalist Mary Raftery, whose States of Fearseries on RTÉ television led to the Ryan Commission, and also to representatives of former residents of institutions.