Ireland, can we have your votes please
Mon ,31/08/2009On 2nd October the good people of Ireland will once again have the chance to vote on the Lisbon Treaty.
This is the second time that the unpopular Government has attempted to force the treaty onto its people but following the resounding NO vote in the first referendum last June when Irish voters rejected the Treaty 53.4% to 46.6% the Government cannot afford to take any chances.
At least their Government is letting them have their say; take note #GoBro!
Finely balanced? Who are you kidding?
After 12 years of weakened coalition Governments Ireland is still suffering the worst recession of any European Union state and therefore the fate of the treaty is once again finely balanced.
The current tactics employed by Brian Cowen are almost that of a marionette craftilly controlling his puppets; in this case the puppets are high profile businessmen who are only too happy to state the party line and extole the virtues of the YES campaign.
The cynic in me see this as a major problem as the only businessmen who are rich enough to step aboard are those that wish to sit squarely in the pocket of the European Commission. For instance, Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair and Jim O’Hara, the chief executive of Intel in Ireland have both made timely reports and pledges to the cause.
Why does that matter? Well, Intel has lodged an appeal to the European Commission against the €1.06 billion (£935m) fine imposed for anti-competitive practices and are currently negotiating this fine downwards, therefore you can see why it would literally pay to be in the Commission’s pocket.
What of Ryanair with its 30% stake in Aer Lingus?
Aer Lingus are already struggling to get a decent court hearing regarding the grossly uncompetitive and damaging situation with Ryanair taking such a large stake that they are seeking to get them removed from the shareholder’s register.
Should that be allowed to occur then another airline could purchase the Ryanair stake and put their profits in jeapordy, another situation whereby it is plainly obvious that it would literally pay to be in the Commission’s pocket.
The problem we have here is that the Irish voters have already said NO so why does the Government think it should have the right to force them to vote again?
Maybe the Coalition should take another look at their constitution, specifically Article 6.1 which states
All power of government, legislative, executive and judicial, derive, under God, from the people, whose right it is to designate the rulers of the state and, in final appeal, to decide all questions of national policy, according to the requirements of the common good
This clearly says it all, from the people and that is where it should have stayed.
There really is only one way to vote Ireland, please use your common sense and do not be fooled by snake oil salesmen.
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