Irish minister says Treaty would secure taxation and neutrality

Ireland will not have its neutrality and tax sovereignty affected if it ratifies the Lisbon Treaty, Irish foreign minister Dermot Ahern TD said on April 17.

Speaking at the Forum on Europe, Mr Ahern welcomed the EU Commission president Jose' Manuel Barroso’s visit to Dublin and said that the Irish national interest would indeed be secured by the Treaty.

He said: “We believe that the Reform Treaty sets up the Union to continue to take the interests of all Member States - large and small - into account.”

“It recognises our common interests while at the same time respecting vital individual national interests, such as taxation and defence in our case, where decisions can only be taken by unanimity.”

His party, Fianna Fail, the largest in Ireland and currently part of the coalition government, is leading the campaign for a Yes vote.

But Patricia McKenna of the People’s Movement, which campaigns against any measures that further develop EU integration, called his statement “false and misleading” and said that Barroso’s visit was a “gross interference by the EU institutions in Ireland’s internal affairs”.

She said: “The visit is not only inappropriate, but clearly designed to give Irish voters a false sense of security in relation to this issue of taxation and the comments by the Commission president are clearly stage managed by PM Bertie Ahern, to reduce concern on one of the most significant aspects of public concern on the Lisbon Treaty.”

The Lisbon Treaty extends qualified majority voting to new policy areas and requires less unanimity votes on issues such as fighting climate change, energy security and emergency humanitarian aid to hot-spots around the globe .

However, unanimity will be retained in areas including tax, foreign policy, defence and social security.

10,000 farmers protest as Barroso visits Dublin

Some 10,000 farmers protested in Dublin on April 17, during the visit of EU Commission President Jose' Manuel Barroso, who was in Ireland to promote the EU treaty.

Farmers intended to mark their opposition to EU Commission plans that could penalise Irish agriculture, and namely the policies of EU Commissioner for trade Peter Mandelson.

Worrying about a falling support for the Treaty showed in a recent poll, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern urged farmers to vote Yes during the June referendum.

He said: "It would be a disaster for this country not to pass it. It would have repercussions that would severely damage us, and the biggest beneficiaries are the agricultural community and they should be the ones leading this campaign for it."

The Irish Farmer Association (IFA) President Padraig Walshe addressing the protest said that Mandelson's plans would destroy the Irish beef industry and put 50,000 farmers out of business.

He said: "The Lisbon Treaty Referendum is on the 12th of June, but for farmers, the referendum decision comes on the 20th of May. That's the date Mandelson will be in Geneva and he has a decision to make."

"If the sell out goes ahead on the 20th May in Geneva, then I will not ask farmers to support a Commission that has destroyed the future of our farming and food industry. That is my clear message to President Barroso."

In January Walshe had recommended a YES vote.

During his speech on April 18 at the University of Cork, Mr Barroso implicitly responded when he said that Ireland would be able to preserve its economic model if it backed the Treaty.

He said: "Agriculture will be part of the modernization agenda of the Union. We will build a European agriculture for the future, which respects the social and economic well-being of the farmers; guarantees the right of Europeans to have quality food; and maintains a prosperous rural life, with strong rural communities and an efficient and working rural economy, which is a core part of the European way of living."