Meath Sinn Féin launches No to Lisbon Campaign

Sinéad Burke today launched the Meath Sinn Féin 'No to Lisbon 2'Campaign in Duleek. Speaking at the campaign launch Ms. Burke said that as a republican she believed in ‘government of the people, by thepeople, for the people. The people have spoken and they have votedagainst the Lisbon Treaty. Yet this Fianna Fáil /Green governmentwishes to subvert the wishes of the Irish people by forcing anothervote on the Treaty. By doing so they are insulting our intelligenceand making a mockery of the democratic process.
“The Government and the Yes side are claiming that the so calledlegally binding guarantees secured at the European Council meeting inJune have addressed the concerns of the Irish people about thisTreaty. These ‘guarantees’ are nothing more than a series ofclarifications of some aspects of the Lisbon Treaty. They do not alterthe text of the treaty in any way nor do they change the impact thatthe treaty will have on Ireland and the EU. On October 2nd we will bevoting on exactly the same treaty, with exactly the same consequencesfor Ireland and the EU, as we did last year.
“These consequences include the erosion of Irish Neutrality, theweakening of Ireland’s position in Europe, the loss of the IrishCommissioner, the erosion of workers’ rights and public services, theloss of an automatic right to a referendum on future treaty changes,continued participation in the European Atomic Energy Community,advancing the cause of tax harmonisation, the promotion of commonforeign and defence policies and the militarisation of Europe andmuch, much more. “The Lisbon Treaty was a bad deal for Ireland when itwas presented to the people last year and it remains the very same baddeal. Sinn Féin will continue to fight for a better deal for Irelandand for Europe. In order to get a better deal we must reject thistreaty once again. I am calling on the voters to do just that.”