Fianna Fáil MEP accused of misleading the public over Lisbon guarantees

Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey has accused Fianna Fáil MEP Pat the Cope Gallagher of "misleading the public" over the Lisbon Treaty. He said that the "guarantees" that the Cope claims are legally binding are in fact "political promises from untrustworthy politicians" with no legal standing.

Casey said: "Pat the Cope Gallagher claims that people are being disingenuous by highlighting the fact that the second Lisbon Treaty referendum is exactly the same as the first referendum which was democratically rejected last year. However, it is Pat the Cope who is being disingenuous and misleading the public."

He added: "This is the exact same treaty we voted on and rejected last year. Every word, sentence and paragraph included in the Treaty is the very same as last time around. The guarantees which Pat is so intent to promote as being "legally binding" are nothing of the sort. They have no legal basis and do not override the content of the Treaty itself. They are simply political promises from politicians at both Irish and European level who, on the basis of their records, cannot be trusted to keep any promises they make."

"This Treaty, under its previous guise as the EU constitution, has already been rejected by the French and Dutch public. The EU ignored those democratic decisions. Following our rejection of that re-named constitution, now called the Lisbon Treaty, the EU and the Fianna Fáil led administration ignored that democratic vote also. This reveals the fundamentally undemocratic nature of the EU itself and how they will stop at nothing as they attempt to entrench their neo-liberalism and privatisation agenda, further deepen the democratic deficit of the union and move towards their desired EU super-state."

Also responding to the claims by the Fianna Fáil MEP, éirígí Tír Chonaill spokesperson Micheál Cholm MacGiolla Easbuig said that "this is a deliberate tactic to deceive the public into thinking that they are voting on something different in this second referendum."

"It is an attempt by them to make people believe the treaty has somehow been altered, even though this is clearly untrue" he said.