Daughter of referendum case winner urges 'No' vote

The daughter of the man who secured the right of Irish people to vote on EU treaties today urged the electorate to reject the latest reform package.

More than 20 years ago the late Raymond Crotty won a case against the Irish Government which meant any EU rules that impacted on Ireland’s constitution must be approved by the people.

Mary Crotty said her father’s win has resulted in less than four million Irish people voting on behalf of half a billion Europeans on the Lisbon Treaty.

She maintains lawyers who worked on his case believe that, if implemented, the Lisbon Treaty will be Ireland’s last EU-related referendum.

“My father Raymond Crotty took the Irish Government to the Supreme Court in 1987 because that Government attempted to introduce the Single European Act without giving the people of Ireland a vote in the referendum,” said Ms Crotty.

“It is because of that Supreme Court ruling that we now have a vote in the Lisbon Treaty.

“Ironically because of the Crotty case the Irish people get to vote twice on Lisbon while the rest of Europe get no vote at all.

“Because this Treaty is so extensive I’ve no doubt that if passed it will be the last referendum the Irish people will have on Europe.”

Ms Crotty spoke out as part of the Women Say No To Lisbon camp, which includes 42 female politicians and activists.

However, she stressed she was concerned as a wife and mother of four, and had no political affiliation.

Elsewhere, in Dublin’s Buswell’s Hotel several other groups made a last ditch attempt to convince the electorate to vote 'No' on Friday.

The People’s Movement, the Irish Fishermen’s Organisation and Farmers for a No Vote held a joint press conference in the shadow of the Dáil to urge voters to reject the EU reform deal.

Caitlin Ui Aoghla said fishing was one of the industries that has seen first-hand what bad European policies do.

“Fishing has suffered, it is one of our indigenous industries, it is one of the industries where we’ve actually seen how the big boys dish out the share,” she said.

“We are concerned that Lisbon further consolidates all the bad policies the EU has done up to now.”