Republican News · Thursday 12 September 2002

Nice II watch

IFA threats

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) have already advocated a Yes vote, but it still seems that it comes with a price. IFA president John Dillon has warned that failure to address the farm income crisis would lead to a negative reaction from farmers when it came to voting for Nice.

Harney logic

Do the Yes camp really believe the economic argument about the negative consequences voting No? Mary Harney, the minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment was in Washington last week trying to promote Ireland at the US-Ireland Business Summit. Yet she chose to campaign about Nice and tell the very people she is trying to canvass for business that they "will look elsewhere" if we vote No.

Counting on Bertie

Bertie Ahern was a busy man, speaking at the launch of an Institute for European Affairs (IEA) briefing pack on Nice and on RTE radio. A No vote would damage the 26 Counties "politically and socially" and we would be stabbing the applicant countries in the back, he claimed. Strangely, Ahern also claimed that his speech to the IEA was his first time to address the Nice issue. He must have forgotten his attack on the No campaign in July when he accused them of "deliberately misrepresenting" what was involved.

44% undecided

A poll commissioned by Citigroup showed 44% of votes still undecided about Nice. The poll also registered 29% in favour of Nice, 19% against and 9% undecided.

Equal in Europe

A new grouping called Equal in Europe launched its campaign against Nice this week. The group is pro-EU, pro enlargement but anti-Nice. The group has also rejected claims that a No vote will affect the economy. Must be time for Ahern to accuse them of scaremongering.

Fair information

It seems that Ireland is not the only place where governments churn out EU propaganda under the pretence of being neutral information. In Malta, a row has broken out between the government and the opposition Labour Party over pro-EU TV ads. The Labour Party should have one third of the airtime and budget to campaign against EU membership and have gone to court to have their rights upheld. It would never happen in fair and free Ireland.