MINISTER FOR European Affairs Dick Roche has accused opponents of the Lisbon Treaty of "mendacious and perverse" attempts to "distort" the debate on the treaty in the run-up to the summer referendum.
In a presentation to the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs, Mr Roche said campaigners against the treaty were "misleading" voters on a number of issues, particularly in claiming it would have an impact on Ireland's corporate tax rate.
"There are increasingly desperate attempts . . . to sow confusion in relation to corporate taxation.
"In reality, the situation is crystal clear: there is no power, either in the current EU treaties or in the Lisbon Treaty, for the EU to interfere with our corporation tax rate in any way. Taxation under the Lisbon Treaty remains subject to unanimity."
Mr Roche said this position had been confirmed "explicitly" by European Commission president José Manuel Barroso during his recent visit to Ireland.
The Minister dismissed as "absurd" arguments by some treaty opponents that the Government could not be trusted to maintain the veto on tax.
"We are the Government that introduced the current rate of corporation tax. We are acutely aware of how important foreign direct investment and a competitive corporation tax rate have been to our economy.
"To think we would surrender this is, frankly, complete nonsense." Failure to ratify the treaty, Mr Roche told the committee, would "plunge the union into a crisis which would be damaging to Europe and Ireland".
Separately yesterday, the Labour Party said one of the main achievements of the treaty was the protections it offered public services. Launching a document that explains the treaty's safeguards for public services, party leader Eamon Gimore said that these still mattered greatly in Irish society.
He argued that the treaty contained an "unquestionable legal basis" for the introduction of European legislation on services of general economic interest.
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