Madam, – It was with more a sense of weary acceptance rather than surprise that I viewed the new Cóir anti-Lisbon poster campaign (August 31st) . Having run a successful platform of fear-mongering, exaggeration and outright fabrication last time round it seems, that Cóir has elected to maintain their usual approach.
The Cóir arguments that the ability of the Irish people to decide on minimum wage rates, abortion and neutrality will be ceded to Brussels are without foundation. Both the legally-binding guarantees put in place by the EU with regard to Ireland’s sovereignty in these and other domestic issues, and the Irish Constitution will ensure the prevailing democratic accountability remains. The cited Laval decision with regard to minimum wage rates refers to a past European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision relating solely to Sweden which lacks a minimum wage rate. The Lisbon Treaty does not affect or have any implications for past ECJ rulings.
A rather revealing development at this early stage of the campaign has been Cóir’s willingness to use the race card to further its ends.
Cóir maintains that under Article 79 of the Treaty the EU will maintain control over deciding who can come to Ireland looking for employment. Its claims of a future influx of “foreign workers who helped cause the crash” are nothing more than thinly-veiled jingoism.
In fact, Article 79 as an element of the EU’s immigration policy is aimed at the efficient management and fair treatment of legal third country residents, and combating illegal immigration and people-trafficking. The right of member-states to control immigration into their territory is further re-stated under Lisbon Article 79.5. Cóir has continually proven itself to be more than willing to mount campaigns entirely disassociated from fact, truth and logic. The rationale behind a single-issue lobby-group with zero democratic accountability attempting to manipulate and deceive the electorate on a stated goal of a more open political process remains tenuous. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Inner city Dublin still carries the scars of the last referendum campaign with No to Lisbon graffiti defacing both public and private property. The combined efforts of my father and myself, with power hose, wire brush and deck-scrub, failed to make any appreciable difference to a small sample at my gate, so I can state with authority that its removal is beyond the means of local residents. Might the Yes to Lisbon side take on the challenge?
I for one would be happy to devote a Saturday to such a practical campaign. – Yours, etc,