Anger at Government ‘must not lead to people voting No’

PEOPLE’S anger against those who have “prostituted our republic” must not be used as a stick to beat the Government through a No vote in the Nice referendum.

That was the call from MEP and European Parliament president Pat Cox yesterday.

The backlash against the Government in the wake of the Flood Tribunal interim report is palpable, Mr Cox said. An overall Yes vote is on the cards, but it will only be achieved if people avoid putting short-term national issues before the real issues in Nice, he said at a Waterford Chamber of Commerce-Irish Examiner breakfast briefing. The Munster MEP said he was at Listowel Races last Friday campaigning for a Yes vote. “The anger among people was so tangible, you could feel their anger. And it is a righteous anger. It was revealed when people find that people privileged to fill the highest offices in our land have prostituted our republic. Their anger is justified. But please do not use this short-term political issue as a reason to vote No. “The biggest battle now is not the one to win the Yes vote. It is the one to sway the people who are saying No for the wrong reason,” Mr Cox said.

Opposition politicians, to their credit, have shown great restraint. They are not exploiting the misgivings of some. The “hold your fire” comments by Ruairí Quinn are particularly welcome, he said. He said the campaign now should be “Hold your Ireland.”

“Yesterday in Cashel set a lead in this campaign. I was joined by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and independent politicians as well as someone from the national executive of the Progressive Democrats. They had the maturity in Cashel to come together. However they cut one another up the rest of the time, they united on this one. And other places should take their lead,” the European Parliament president added.

A big part of the current campaign is to reach out to those who decided, for whatever reason, to stay at home the last time out. We want to invite those people and those who voted No to stand back and think about the Ireland we actually know and the Europe we actually know, Mr Cox said. A lot of issues which don’t bare up to scrutiny have managed to take root in people’s minds. Experience itself should have thought us to evaluate things. The same arguments against Nice were made when Ireland joined the EEC. None of them held water then and they don’t do so now, he said.