Taoiseach urges Yes vote in treaty referendum

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today urged a Yes vote in the upcoming referendum on the new European Reform Treaty as a means of combating climate change.

Mr Ahern told the Ogra Fianna Fáil National Conference in Tullamore one of the greatest challenges facing Ireland and the world was climate change.

"Working with our partners, Irish concerns on climate change can be best addressed by a Yes vote to the new Reform Treaty," he said.

"The Reform Treaty restates and strengthens the solidarity with European nations have to combat climate change together."

Positive and proactive engagement by the Government had ensured the issue of climate change was prioritised in the final text of the treaty, he told the conference.

At last June's European Council meeting he had been delighted to secure the agreement and support of his EU colleagues for an explicit reference to "combating climate change" to be inserted in the treaty, said the Taoiseach.

"Now we must follow through on Irish efforts to cement the climate change agenda at the heart of EU policymaking," he added.

"I believe that this can best be achieved by securing a Yes vote to the Reform Treaty."

Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Brian Cowan urged a Yes vote on economic grounds. Europe, he said, had been good for Ireland.

"For those who acknowledge all that Europe has done for both workers and employers, Yes is the only way to vote," said Mr Cowan.

For those who believed in a neutral Ireland which supported peacekeeping and humanitarian missions, Yes was also they only way to vote, claimed Cowen.

"The Reform Treaty signed in Lisbon is true to the spirit of Europe which the people placed their faith in and which has given our country so much," he added.