ANTI-LISBON MEETING:A CONFERENCE held at Shannon airport on Saturday heard repeated calls for the Government to prevent Ryanair and Intel from spending as much as €1 million on promoting a Yes vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum.
The calls follow confirmation that both companies will push for a Yes vote next month. Up to 150 people attended the event which was organised jointly by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) both of which are backing a No vote in the referendum.
Speaking at the conference, Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins said: “There is a monumental hypocrisy here in the sense that the media and the pro-Lisbon establishment have not raised a single question about the fact that Ryanair and Intel are spending up to a million euro between them on their Yes campaigns. If they were private companies on the No side, there would be a massive outcry and demands for enquiries.
“The fact that both companies, which are anti-trade union, would be supporting Lisbon is indeed a comment on what Lisbon means, that it endorses the corporate agenda and not the agenda in the interest of working people.”
He added: “We have to get the real facts of what Lisbon means out there so the Irish people can see quite clearly what is involved. We are trying to be very specific about the arguments while the Yes side is ignoring these and trying to have bland generalisations and not engaging with us so we hope to change that so that people can see the truth of the matter”.
Former MEP and chairwoman of the People’s Movement Patricia McKenna said: “The idea that corporate business can push for changes to the Irish constitution that may benefit them is seriously wrong and should be addressed immediately.”
Ms McKenna has called on her former party leader Minister John Gormley to take action. “He should be taking action now that this has been highlighted publicly. He should be acting on the fact that the corporate sector can fund, without any limitations or restrictions, a push for changes to the Irish Constitution.”
British Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn claimed Ireland will lose its neutrality if it signs up to the Lisbon Treaty. “Irish neutrality is a precious thing. It is a very precious advance in Irish history and the Lisbon Treaty will end that neutrality, if Ireland signs up to the treaty, because it requires Ireland to support common European security, common European foreign policy and the principals behind Nato.”
Vice-chairwoman of Sinn Féin and former MEP Mary Lou McDonald said: “Successive administrations have allowed our neutral position to be undermined and each time that Sinn Féin has sought to have a referendum, to write in to the Constitution the definition of neutrality, it has been knocked back by the big parties who will say they support and promote the position of neutrality when in fact they don’t.
The Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea said the Lisbon Treaty “does not affect or prejudice Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality”. He continued: “Ireland will remain in full control over all of its security and defence issues under Lisbon. That PANA should suggest otherwise shows that it is a group, which is completely divorced from reality”.