THERE IS something about Irish referendums, more so than any election, that brings out the barrack-room lawyers in droves. With the certainty and the convoluted plausibility of courtrooms of Perry Masons, and short-term historical memories, campaigners assail voters daily with hyperbole, misunderstandings dressed as truths, and downright lies.
How many times have we been told, at Maastricht, at Amsterdam, at Nice I and Nice II, that Article X of said treaty was the final nail in the coffin of Irish neutrality? Or that Article Y would irrevocably gobble up what little sovereignty our forefathers fought and died for? (One group has republished a 1790 Wolfe Tone pamphlet to make its case). Or that our economy would be ruined/saved if we took one course or another? Or that abortion would be foisted on us against our will?
The trouble with such arguments, as they are dusted down again, is that if they were true in the first place our neutrality would be but a distant memory and our economy long ruined. Oh no, we are assured, Lisbon is the final, final straw, the real tipping point. And then there are those who discover, as if with dazzling insight, that Lisbon promotes the liberal free play of market forces. As if the whole history and rationale of the Treaty of Rome and the EEC, and all that came since, had never happened.
The problem with trying to debunk such "facts" is that to do so inevitably prompts the response "but you would say that. You support Lisbon. Nothing you say can be trusted . . .". The public is angry, trust in politicians low, and so the Government's hope that unengaged citizens will be willing, on June 12th, simply to take on trust the views of those they have traditionally elected is a foolish, thin thread on which to hang the Yes campaign.
In the face of such scepticism and the barrage of so-called "facts", this newspaper has set out to provide a non-partisan commentary in the form of the series "Lisbon Explained" by European Correspondent Jamie Smyth (now available in full on the dedicated Lisbon section of www.ireland.com). And we would point to the balanced publications and statements of the impartial Referendum Commission which has, for example, already authoritatively confirmed that the treaty will not undermine Irish vetoes on military matters and direct taxation.
There are undoubtedly rational reasons why good people may want to oppose this treaty. The wild exaggerations of much of the campaign rhetoric are not among them and do not serve their cause well.