‘Will Irish ayes be smiling’ come Friday, paper asks
Vote yes and we can all look forward to a bright future. Vote no and we’ll return to the dark days of the 1980s. Except this time Cork and Dublin will be under water because we wasted our opportunity to deal with climate change.
This was the message hammered out by yes campaigners for the Lisbon treaty yesterday as the country took its final steps in the referendum route.
We are the only country to put the treaty to a popular vote and the message from the rest of the bloc was that Europe is holding its breath.
“The eyes of Europe are on Ireland,” said the EU Observer, while the Brussels-based European Voice asked: “Will Irish Ayes be smiling?”
In search of the answer to this question were journalists from the other 26 member states, whose numbers increased in Dublin yesterday, bringing an enthusiasm for the campaign that has been lost among some of their Irish counterparts, feeling “Lisboned out”.
Still showing their enthusiasm, but no doubt looking forward to Thursday, were the leaders of the three main parties: Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny, Labour’s Eamon Gilmore and Taoiseach Brian Cowen, who gathered for a joint press conference to call for a yes vote.
In a speech that would give Barack Obama a run for his money, Mr Kenny spoke of the EU “dream” that is “part of our lives. Part of the best of our lives”.
Mr Cowen said if the treaty is rejected we “face a very uncertain direction going forward”.
Mr Gilmore joined the queue to sound caution.
“If the treaty is rejected, we do not know what a different deal would yield for Ireland, or what our future in Europe would be,” he said, adding that a no vote would put Ireland in “uncertain waters”.
Another press conference held by the Irish Alliance for Europe heard that these waters could be more uncertain than we imagined.
Eddie O’Connor, founder of Mainstream Renewable Power, said the treaty is needed to reinforce Europe’s position as the leading group of nations dealing with climate change.
“Imagine which cities are going to go under water in the next century?” he said. “One is Dublin and the other is Cork, and it’s partially underwater as it is.”
Warnings also came from former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, who told the same press conference that if Ireland “sabotage” the EU, we will get “damn all goodwill” from our neighbours in the future.
One of the many myths about the Lisbon treaty is that if it is ratified, Irish people will lose their right to hold referendums on such treaties in the future.
As a long and tiring campaign draws to a close, both sides of the debate must wish that this is one theory that might come to pass.
