Republican News · Thursday 11 October 2001

Sinn FÈin at Forum on Europe

Sinn FÈin has announced that its Dublin South Central representative, Aengus ” Snodaigh, will represent the party on the Forum on Europe, which is due to meet for the first time next Thursday, 18 October.

"Throughout the referendum campaign on the Treaty of Nice, we in Sinn FÈin voiced our deep dissatisfaction that proposals for major constitutional change, with profound consequences for Irish democracy and the future of the EU, were being rushed through without much needed debate and consultation," said ” Snodaigh.

"We support the concept of a Forum on Europe but we are concerned that the government will attempt to use the Forum as a tool to rerun the Nice Treaty, something which is entirely unacceptable.

"We have been entirely consistent on the issue of Europe. We believe that the current process of European integration is moving the EU decisively from what is supposed to be a partnership of equals towards a federal state with a powerful and unelected central government dominated by the larger states. This is something we believe is not in the interests of Ireland, the EU or indeed the applicant states.

"I am proud that I have the opportunity to represent Sinn FÈin at the Forum, but it must not be allowed to become a talking shop. Sinn FÈin has a unique analysis of the part that Ireland should play in the European Union. Sinn FÈin wants a Europe of equals. This is the case we will bring to the Forum."