Doyle tells Eurosceptics: You’re 100 years too late

EUROSCEPTIC Brits donned the green jersey in the European Parliament yesterday and called for the Irish no vote to be respected.

But they were 100 years too late, one of the Parliament’s best known MEP’s, Avril Doyle was quick to tell them.

“How things could have been different if only our British colleagues had come to this conclusion a century ago,” she told the Parliament.

The men in funny green hats were not to be deflected from their celebrations and their insistence that the Irish no vote is a step towards liberating Britain from Europe.

Head of the British Independence Party, Nigel Farage, accused Europe’s politicians of creating a new phenomenon — EU nationalism.

But Ms Doyle was not falling for the nationalism argument, especially since the motley collection of MEPs included Northern Ireland’s Jim Allister and independent Irish MEP Kathy Sinnott.

She turned her ire on Ms Sinnott, co-president with Mr Farage of the joint Independence-Democracy group.

“One of the Irish Members, who has already spoken today, circulated leaflets during the campaign with a syringe on it. Perhaps she could tell us where exactly euthanasia is provided for in this Treaty? Or abortion, or prostitution,” she demanded.

West MEP Marian Harkin slated the green-jersey wearers. “The sheer hypocrisy of this group is mind-boggling as they and the mindsets of those they represent have always been anti-Irish,” she said.

The extent of this disrespect was outlined by Fianna Fáil’s Brian Crowley, co-president of the UEN group, when he told the Parliament that these same people celebrated in an Irish pub in Brussels last Friday, using the Irish flag as a beer mat.

Most MEPs in the debate said time was needed to decipher why the treaty was rejected. Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness, put forward one reason — “Years of blaming the EU for the things which Governments find unpalatable”.

“It is time politicians who are part of the decision-making process in the EU take responsibility for the decisions they make rather than shifting that responsibility elsewhere. Bureaucrats do not vote at Council or in the European Parliament — politicians do.”

Her words were echoed by Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso who said: “Years of treating European institutions as a convenient scapegoat leave fertile ground for populist campaigns.

“You cannot bash Brussels and Strasbourg from Monday to Saturday and expect citizens to vote in favour of Europe on Sunday,” he said.