Politics set aside in drive for ‘unified’ yes vote
Green leader John Gormley will also attend the meetings, as the Government seeks to avoid the disastrous in-fighting among the yes side that occurred in the first campaign.
Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour all support a yes vote, but clashed bitterly in the last campaign over who was making the greater effort and blamed each other when the treaty was defeated.
The Green Party did not take an official stance on the treaty last time round because the leadership did not get the required support from party members to canvass for a yes vote. But the leadership has won the necessary support this time out, allowing Mr Gormley to campaign for the treaty.
It is expected that co-operation among the parties will largely be contained to messaging and canvassing.
Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin told the Irish Examiner this week: “I think the co-operation will be more on the ground… in that we don’t all keep repeating the same message or that we don’t have 10 people knocking on the same door.”
It is thought unlikely the co-operation will expand into overt demonstrations of unity such as joint press conferences. Some advisers in the parties are understood to be reluctant to co-operate so openly, fearing the public would see it as the political establishment presenting a “fait accompli”.
Meanwhile, no campaigner and artist Robert Ballagh has labelled the Government decision to hold a second referendum as a “total perversion of democracy”.
Speaking at a press conference held by the People’s Movement, which opposes the treaty, Mr Ballagh said the Irish electorate had “unequivocally rejected” Lisbon last year.
Despite this, “EU mandarins” had pushed ahead with ratification of the treaty, and the Government had “pathetically caved in” to this pressure by agreeing to hold a second referendum.
“Lisbon II represents certainly the greatest abuse of democracy that I’ve witnessed in my life in Ireland,” he said.
The People’s Movement also said it is considering legal action against the Referendum Commission, accusing it of being biased in favour of a yes vote.
The commission is tasked with explaining the Lisbon subject matter and encouraging people to vote in the referendum, but it cannot urge them to vote a particular way.
But the People’s Movement claims an information booklet released by the commission clearly supports the yes side.
The Referendum Commission rejected the charges, insisting: “The referendum handbook is accurate and unbiased as is required by law.”
