Republican News · Thursday 1 August 2002

Nice II watch

BY ROBBIE MacGABHANN

---

Still no date for the referendum, or a wording but the Yes troopers are being parachuted into your media as we speak.

---

Ahern

Bertie Ahern, leading from the front, was first into the field first last Thursday. Anti Nice campaigners were "deliberating misrepresenting what is involved", said Ahern. He also claimed that if Nice was a threat to Irish interests he would not have agreed to it. This then, is a new reason to vote Yes. Vote yes to Nice because nobody can fool our Bertie!

Bruton

Next out was former Fine Gael leader John Bruton, whose stunning insight into Nice was that more voters might consider voting yes this time around as we "need to be in a big bloc like the EU" because of the international recession. "Two years ago, people may have felt we could afford to be on the outside because we were invincible," said Bruton.

The former Taoiseach is directing Fine Gael's referendum campaign, which should be interesting, as his Brutonisms can only get better.

FitzGerald

other former Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach crash-landing into the referendum debate is Garret FitzGerald. Speaking at the MacGill summer school, Fitzgerald said the first Nice result had damaged the goodwill factor in the EU towards the 26 Counties. "The goodwill factor is crucial. We now have ill will which we might consolidate to the point of disaster if we vote No to the Nice Treaty", said FitzGerald.

Given his love of figures and statistics, it is surprising and disappointing that Garret has not constructed a goodwill index to measure this important issue.

Parlon

Former IFA president and now Progressive Democrat minister Tom Parlon has given his stunning analysis. If you are "confident in Ireland and optimistic for the future" you should vote yes, according to Parlon, abandoning the depressed and sad to the No campaign.

Parlon also raised the issue of a statement by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in 1987. Adams had apparently said that the 1987 Single European Act would wipe out Ireland's economic sovereignty. This, according to Parlon, was not the case.

Sorry Tom, you are right. Even though we cannot borrow money without the EU's consent and can only spend in a way they agree with, and even though we have no currency, no control over interest rates and special permission from the EU to allow us run the IDA with low corporate taxes, and have to privatise everything including the kitchen sink, we do still have control over income tax.

This is the control which the PDs use to favour the rich over the interests of everyone else. How will you get votes Tom, when the EU strips this fig leaf away?

Cronin

Finally, following in the footsteps of IDA chief executive Sean Dorgan, is Forfás CEO Martin Cronin. Cronin raised the phony enlargement issue saying: "Were we to opt out of the enlargement process, it would be a clear signal to international business that we are not fully committed to international trade, and not confident of our ability to prosper in an open market environment."

Strangely enough, Cronin did not explain what any of this meant or what it had to do with the Nice Treaty. Given that it was the Taoiseach this week, we can only guess who will be sent out to bat next week. We are still waiting for Ronan Keating!