Martin: Referendum will not be held for a third time

THERE will be no attempt to run a third Lisbon Referendum if voters reject the treaty in October.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin said if Ireland said no to the treaty with the additional guarantees it would be the end of the process.

“It certainly will not be put to the Irish people again. We are putting this to the people on the basis it is the best opportunity for Ireland given that EU member states have responded generously to the concerns that were articulated by the Irish people,” he said.

Mr Martin was speaking to RTÉ News at One ahead of a speech delivered at the opening of the Humbert Summer School in Ballina last night. During the speech he turned on anti-Lisbon campaigners who he said had an incoherent platform.

Mr Martin said the goalposts had shifted since the last referendum, especially on the retention of a commissioner which was an issue of debate in 2008 but has been downplayed since the EU offered a guarantee.

“Sinn Féin is so far out in front on this cynical tactic – attacking a failure to deliver their huge agenda for renegotiation, involving many issues completely irrelevant to the debate last year.

“Of course the first time Sinn Féin revealed this agenda was after the [2008] result,” he said.

Earlier yesterday technology giant Intel staked out its position on Lisbon and pledged to spend hundreds of thousands of euro pushing a yes vote.

Its chief executive in Ireland, Jim O’Hara, said it could not simply stand in the wings after witnessing the no vote last time.

Mr Martin welcomed the commitment by a major multinational as an indication of how the treaty could boost the country’s economic standing.

He suggested Intel’s money would most likely be channelled through the third party campaigning groups. And he said there were no parallels with funding-related questions directed at Declan Ganely in 2008 when it was said Libertas used private income to bankroll the no camp without meeting necessary rules.

“Anybody who contributes has to contribute within existing laws. If they make a contribution or finance in any way, shape or form all that has to be documented,” Mr Martin said.