MEP criticises €220,000 spent on pro-Lisbon postcards

THE Government has been lambasted for spending taxpayers’ money on pro-Lisbon treaty measures.

It was nothing short of a “gross abuse of public funds” Socialist Party MEP for Dublin, Joe Higgins, declared in response to the Government’s decision to distribute postcards, costing €220,000, to every household in the country.

“The plan by the Government to issue pro-Lisbon treaty postcards to households around the country is a naked bit of opportunism essentially to get the Fianna Fáil view out at the expense of the taxpayers,” Mr Higgins said.

“The fact was that more than half the taxpayers rejected the Fianna Fáil/Government position on Lisbon one year ago.

“This is therefore a gross abuse of public funds,” he stressed.

Mr Higgins referred to the Government’s pro-Lisbon jockeying as a “shabby manoeuvre”.

In a broadside on the Green Party he said government moves represent yet another betrayal by the Greens of what their party allegedly stood for when in opposition.

“Then it (the Green Party) loudly denounced the use of public funds to finance one side of referendum debates.

“This postcard stunt is yet another attempt to throw sand in the eyes of the Irish public in relation to Lisbon II. Not alone do these postcards seek to dress up the so-called guarantees, but Fianna Fáil have the cheek to use taxpayers’ money to engage in this cynical exercise. Essentially they are trying to preempt the real debate that must now take place on the worth of these guarantees.”

Meanwhile, Environment Minister John Gormley has made an order under the Referendum Act 1998 establishing an independent statutory Referendum Commission.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke will act as chairperson of the commission and other members include the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Buckley and the Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly.

The principal function of the commission is to prepare a statement containing a general explanation of the subject matter of the referendum proposal on the Lisbon treaty.

The commission is required to publish this statement and distribute it to the electorate, promote awareness of the referendum and encourage the electorate to vote, the minister said.