LISBON TREATY: Round 2

Last Updated: Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 13:59
Insults fly in lively Lisbon debate

PAUL CULLEN

Yes and No campaigners traded further arguments and insults in a boisterous debate on the Lisbon treaty referendum on RTÉ's Radio's Pat Kenny Show this morning.

Both sides accused each other of lying during the debate, conducted live in the window of Arnotts department store on Dublin's Henry Street.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said the biggest lie in the No campaign was the claim that the minimum wage would fall if voters approved the treaty.

He also attacked the "extraordinary duplicity and cynicism" of Sinn Féin which, he claimed, affected to be pro-Europe but anti-Lisbon in the Republic, while in the North it had opposed every European treaty. "It's a con job," he said, to applause from the watching crowd.

For Libertas, Declan Ganley said the treaty was bad for Ireland and bad for Europe as he traded angry insults with former EU Parliament president Pat Cox.

Mr Cox had earlier accused the Libertas leader - whom he labelled "Braveheart" - of "calculated and measured misrepresentation" in his arguments. He stressed the context of the debate, which was that Europe had been the source of significant foreign direct investment.

Mr Ganley responded by accusing Mr Cox of typifying the "arrogance" of Brussels and of being a lobbyist. There was nothing on jobs in the treaty, he repeated.

Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness wondered whether people shouldn't switch off and go for a walk to think about the treaty rather than listen to the entrenched view on show, but before long she too was trading verbal punches with Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald.

Neither Ms McDonald nor Mr Ganley was elected last time out, she reminded them, so they should accept the democratic decision of the voters.

For a time, Mr Ganley's microphone was malfunctioning, so he couldn't be heard by the crowd outside the window. When the street sweeping machine stopped for a while to gawk, it was too much for his supporters, who claimed their man was being gagged.

Mr Martin too was in fighting form, mocking the "outmoded, outdated ideology" of Socialist MEP Joe Higgins.

Mr Higgins was in "monstrous" form - it was a monstrous lie for the Government to claim that a Yes vote would transform the jobs scene, it was monstrous for the head of Pfizer to claim there would be a flight of capital if we vote No, etc.

The Nos were the majority of the crowd outside the department store, and Pat Kenny's appeal for undecideds produced just a few hands. One man toted a large sign complaining about the "ripoff" licence fee, much to the annoyance of the RTÉ staff trying to keep a lid on things.

Anne-Marie Hogan said she had visited the grave of the late Raymond Crotty, who campaigned against earlier treaties, yesterday and was sure he would oppose the current "anti-democratic" referendum.

A No-voting Green Party member, said health and education would be privatised if Lisbon is passed.