Lisbon II
Cameron’s LIsbon U Turn underlies his downturn in the polls…
Another reason for the DUP to be cheerful? The Cameron effect is weakening. Or rather his U turn over the Lisbon referendum is cooling the ardour of some of his supporters. How will that affect the typically Eurosceptic hearts and minds of the unionist voter (if at all)? more »
Cameron will not be holding a referendum on Lisbon after all…
(Poster is courtesy of DizzyThinks) With the ratification of Lisbon by Ireland, Poland and the Czech Republic, frankly there is no point. The deal was done when the Irish people kicked the idea of further resistance firmly into touch last month. Most of the rest has been spin. And the pretension that the UK can [...] more »
Money well spent?
The Irish Times has the self-declared amounts spent by the various parties and groups on the Lisbon II campaign. AT LEAST €3.5 million was spent by the main groups campaigning for and against the Lisbon Treaty, while the Referendum Commission spent under €4 million. Political parties said they spent about €1.47 million, including contributions from [...] more »
Lisbon strategy betokens short termism Cameron must leave behind…
I’ve already written a couple of speculative pieces mulling over what the Irish approval of Lisbon might mean for the Conservatives in Britain. David Milliband’s op ed in today’s FT is clearly up to making mischief for the Tories. His main line of argument is that Cameron’s apparent capture by his Eurosceptic wing will shift [...] more »
Are the Tories now planning a staged and inelegant climbdown over Lisbon?
Danny Finklestein lays out what Dave is likely to do over Lisbon. And he doesn’t think, if William Hague is formulating the party’s response to Ireland’s emphatic yes to Lisbon, that Lisbon will figure until the changes have been made (and it looks like the much hoped for resistance from his political ally and Polish [...] more »
David Cameron set to confound his critics over Lisbon…?
Labour Matters compares David Cameron’s 2007 pledge (in The Sun) to give the people of the UK a referendum come what may, and this morning’s presser from campaign headquarters which shows the leader of the Conservative party. They rather leap on Paul Waugh’s conclusion that the first gives ‘Honest Dave’ no wriggle room: “Today, I [...] more »
Lisbon Essay (31): Checks, balances and a stronger social dimension
And in the last of our Lisbon essays, Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore rather trenchantly asserts that Lisbon is not about transfering power from Dublin to Brussels. It is he believes, in contrast to Jimmy Kelly in LE26, enhances a social Europe by setting the Charter up as a watchdog on all EU institutions when [...] more »
Lisbon Essay (30): The least impact upon the Irish Constitution of any Treaty ever voted on…
Ciarán Toland is a barrister (so we’ve given him a bit more space to make his case). In this, essay he lays out why he thinks the Lisbon Treaty has taken on a significance in Irish law that barely reflects insignificance in real terms. It lies primarily in the proposal to give the EU (previously [...] more »
Sinn Féin Councillor’s ‘No’ protest “juvenile” – Adams
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has chosen solidarity with his northern counterpart, the out-going SDLP leader Mark Durkan, over party loyalty in the “partitionist nonsense” row – when a southern SF councillor-led group disrupted a joint-press conference with the Irish Labour Party. From today’s Irish News [subs req] The West Belfast MP was openly critical [...] more »
Murdoch soft peddling on Lisbon…
Over at Comment is Free I argue that the innate (small ‘c’) conservativism* of the Murdoch press seems to have left them curiously ‘unmanned’ in their Euroscepticism this time out with Lisbon… Which suggests his Irish readership is not as passionate about voting no as it was last year… * A conservatism that does not [...] more »
Lisbon Essay (29): It is Ireland’s credibility that’s at stake…
John O’Farrell picks up on Heaney’s focus on the word ‘credit’ (nó creid as Gaeilge), and reckons that the poet has put his finger on what’s at stake for Ireland in the referendum when he argued that a No vote will mean that it will be “up to our EU neighbours – not us – [...] more »
Lisbon Essay (28): How on earth do we switch this (EU) thing off?
Declan Ganley of Libertas notes that if you vote yes tomorrow, then there may be no more opportunities for the plain people of Ireland to turn this process around. This, he argues, is not the second time this treaty has been voted on but the fifth. That the only changes that have been made to [...] more »
Referenda and the Phantom People who act like enemies of democracy…
Not everyone I approached for a Lisbon essay had the time to give us the full text for an article. One such was Professor John Keane of the University of Westminster and author of The Life and Death of Democracy… These are his shorthand thoughts on the usefulness of Referenda in general and their relationship [...] more »
Lisbon Essay (27): If it’s No, Europe will simply find a way to move on without us…
Dan O’Brien, senior Europe editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, posts from Berlin where he is covering the aftermath of the Germany election. He takes a sounding of insider opinion on Ireland and Lisbon, in several of Europe’s major capitals. The general assumption is that Irish voters will, as they did with Nice, [...] more »
Reform in Ireland Can Start with a Yes to Lisbon…
Last year Naoise Nunn was one of a small but hard working Libertas team which basically took on and bested the Yes campaign over the first Lisbon Treaty Referendum. This year he is voting yes. The common motivation between this year and last is that he wants to see substantial political reform, both in Ireland [...] more »
Lisbon Essay (26): A ‘No’ vote would show solidarity with the Charter and a social Europe
Jimmy Kelly of the Unite Union is one of the most respected figures of the No platform. His position is relatively straightforward. In Ireland workers protections lag hugely behind that of much of Europe. In particular he argues that the Charter for Fundamental Rights is being sold as a fait accomplai, when in fact there [...] more »
Vote early..
At Irish Election, Cian is collecting voting cards ahead of Lisbon II. more »
Lisbon Essay (25): As Iceland discovered the EU is the firebrigade…
Jason O’Mahoney lays out a scenario he believes the No side is studiously avoiding: what happens to Ireland’s national interest within Europe if there is a No vote and Lisbon is abandoned for a more centralised, bi or tri-lateral decision making processes in its stead. The Treaty itself is dry and technical because it is [...] more »
Aiste Liospóin (24): Níl, mar tá neamhspleachas mar oidhreacht duinne…
Vótáil Concubhar i gcoinne an Chonartha an uair dheireanach, agus ní bheith sé ag athrú a vóta an uair seo.. Tá dhá cheist difriúil ann dar leis: fearg leis an Rialtas, agus na rudaí a mbaineann go díreach leis an Chonradh féin. Níl an cheist faoi rogha idir an fhoireann seo nó an ceann eile; [...] more »
Lisbon Essay (23): Why Ireland can’t afford the Lisbon Treaty…
Niamh Uí Bhriain of Cóir sites her anti Lisbon argument in the material crisis of the Tiger economy. Nevertheless she notes that “the Lisbon Treaty is not about providing jobs or encouraging enterprise – it’s a treaty designed to centralise political power in the European Union”. She denies there are any short term economic consequences [...] more »
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Books
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Hearing the Other Voice from the Grave: Why Should we Listen to David Ervine’s Stories?
Ed Moloney’s Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland has received considerable attention in the press and in the public realm since its publication earlier this year. Although the book relates the experiences of the Provisional IRA’s Brendan Hughes and the PUP/UVF’s David Ervine, much of the discussion has focused on Hughes’ stories [...] read our review » -
The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday (Neil MacFarquhar)
With perhaps the longest title of any book I’ve read this year, The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East gives an insight into the lives of people living in Middle East through the eyes of journalist Neil MacFarquhar. MacFarquhar’s father was a chemical engineer [...] read our review »
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Debating the Churches’ Role in the Peace in Northern Ireland
This morning’s Sunday Sequence featured a substantial debate (about 35 minutes into the recorded programme) on a new book,Religion, Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press 2011), written by sociologists John Brewer, Gareth Higgins and Francis Teeney. The debate was framed in an opening vignette by presenter William Crawley in uncompromising terms, [...] read our review »
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