This article is from page 19 of the 2008-06-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
THE effort to defeat the Lisbon Trea- ty is the largest political campaign ever undertaken by Republican Sinn Fein in Clare, according to a party spokesman.
With more than 15,000 houses vis- ited in the Ennis area alone, the party believe that the ‘No’ campaign is set to be a successful one.
“We feel confident at this stage that the ‘No’ campaign will win the day. The response that we have got has been brilliant so far. We have been all over the county and the response from people on the doorsteps has been great,’ said Paddy Kenneally, Clare head of Republican Sinn Féin.
The party claims to have serious reservations about the security of the State and it’s neutrality should the treaty be passed.
“This treaty lays the foundations for a Super European army and will be a big challenge to Ireland neutral- ity,’ he said.
“It will also be the end of Irish farming as it will open up trade
agreements with Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand which will supply the markets of Europe with cheap but inferior meat. Irish farmers will suf- fer for this for years to come.”
“Corporate tax in Ireland is the envy of all of Europe and this is one of the main reasons why multination- als invest here. We believe that the EU intends to bring our tax levels in line with the rest of the EU, which will effectively double our tax rate.”
“We believe that the multinationals are going to leave Ireland if this takes place and look for cheaper business in countries in Asia and Africa.”
Mr Kenneally also hit out at a number of elected representative for advocating a treaty that they admit not to having read.
“The main political parties of the State are asking people to vote yes even though they admit that there are no benefits from it and that many of them haven’t even read it.”
“They tell us that there’s a veto on several issues. But they have not told us that this veto can be overturned by a board of EU minsters.”