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Lisbon - A month to go
Read more about: Lisbon Treaty
With a month to go to the Lisbon vote, I am going to do a number of weekly round-ups of bloggers views on the Lisbon Treaty. Starting off with Michael Walsh’s Yes to Lisbon blog which has the first of a number of posts which will be on the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Politics.ie legend, Future Taoiseach has a piece on how Brian Cowen’s stressing of parliamentary party discipline on the Lisbon Treaty. The Quiet Road has a piece about the complexity of the Treaty itself.
Sarah Carey is looking for no voter to abstain on the vote, as she won’t be around to vote yes. Credo, Catholic Journal encourages us all to go out and vote, but is pushing a strong no vote itself highlighting Cóir’s claim that the Treaty is not needed. Hotelier Jim Murphy is supporting the call of the Irish Hotel Federation’s call for a Yes Vote.
Irish Lawyer takes issue with my support of the Citizens’ Initiative. Wargle argues that Lisbon does nothing on energy, while British Blogger Curly, the Tap Blog and the Daily Telegraph have posts on Mandelson upsetting us Irish and the implications for the referendum. The Life Blog is arguing for a non-vote i.e. not to vote in the referendum at all. The Cedar Lounge looks at the Cowen effect on the Lisbon Treaty vote of Cowen’s honeymoon. Stephen Spillane provide an update on the state of play of ratification in the other EU states and finally, Justin Mason looks at the Libertas’ astro-turfing saga.
So, thats a quick round up of some of the posts on Lisbon in the past few days. I’ll continue this next week, but if there are any others lash them down below.
Thanks for that good round-up. Might be good to set-up a wee web-poll on this to gauge your readers view on the treaty. Personally although I’m a supporter of it..that’s really just a default opinion of mine. In fact I believe that because this thing is so complex most voters will resort to ‘default’. And that default is likely to be ‘no thanks’ if the first Nice referendum is anything to go by.
I think it is symptomatic of the mess the Yes vote is in that the so-caloed independent commission is having to turn to sites like You-Tube, Facebook and Bebo to attract a younger voter. Biffo on Facebook! Stop the lights Bunny. Does anyone know whether Our Boys is still produced going or was the title rather too poilitically incorrect given all the scandals? Maybe they could try approaching the Beano (if it still exists) as well as sites specialising in kiddy porn. Put the point is that all of this comes at a price which Irish tax-payers will have to pay. They’re also sending out a booklet to everyone in the country. I know what I’ll do with my copy - so long as the paper’s not too shiny. But I’m someone who believes in differences of opinion they could advertise on my old website - for a fee. But there’s the rub: I’m just an ordinary Irish citizen, and not a big international advertising or PR company. How dare I look for anything from my government.
I’m not voting Yes. I’m not voting no either, and to see how I’m going to vote you can go to my Life blog.
John, Thanks for the mention, and I am sorry to cavil, but calling me by my domain name is a bit eccentric. It is not that there is anything wrong with eccentricity - a badge of honour, I’d say - but in this case there is more than one Irish lawyer (I am sure that you have noticed) and the potential for confusion with similarly named domains is real. Please refer to my material by reference to my name or to the name of the website (”Of Laws & Men”) or even the name of the relevant page (”Lisbon Referendum Journal”).
Fergus: I wasn’t aware there was an etiquette to it all, but will bear it in mind in the future.
John: You have not shown “bad manners”. I am not sure that, as such, there *is* an etiquette governing this (but maybe there should be). With most sites, it will not arise. In my case, there are practical issues.
P.S. Any idea where all the \ came from ?
I am feeling bitter. I am excluded from all the ostentatious actions of the self-styled independent Referendum Commission. I don’t look at Facebook or YouTube or BeBo. I am instead a 42-year-old multi-lingual Europhile, as happy with a Petit noir at a cafe in Perpignan or a stein in a Bavarian Stuebl as I am with a coke bottle of Red Biddy on the steps of the Sally Ann in Marlborough Street. I know I’m passed it, but I still have a vote. And quite frankly, though I was originally intending to cast a blank ballot, the more I hear from the self-satisfied Yes side the more I’m being pushed into the no camp.
I suppose what really gets me is their insincerity. Reference to this Charter of Universal Rights is the best part, enabling comrade cumfies like Ho Chi Quinn to say they are in favour. The Mighty Quinn is probably sincere and his fart is probably in the right place. The development of European jurisprudence in the area of equality has had the potential of improving workers’ rights here, but this is only at the theoretical level. Let us consider the Marshall case. The judgement, when it came, was a milestone, outlawing discriminatory practices on retirement ages between genders. But let us recall that it took Ms Marshall, the lady at the centre of the suit, thirteen years I think to finally come to a satisfactory conclusion. Does Lisbon make any attempts to make EUropean Law more accessible to Europe’s citizens?
Then there are practical considerations. There is an extremely low level of cognisance amongst the rank-and-file of Irish lawyers about EU law. They all cover it in their law conversion courses (the beloved route into a life of small-town upper middle class security), but I’ve met very few who like it. When you’re looking forward to a quiet life between the golf club and visits to the mistress where you’re only dealing on a day-to-day basis with a bit of conveyancing and defending drink drivers, knowledge of Van Gend en Loos is rather surplus to requirement.
But on a far more practical level the Charter of Universal Rights can be stuffed full of high-sounding words, but when Irish peoploe (or those from any other country) are being systematically denied their rights, or are being paid third-world wages, the act that their oppresssors are well-got, being members of the Party of Eternal Power or some quasi-Masonic group like the Knights of Columbanus will matter far more than the foam of any Charter of Universal rights.
Once the referendum takes place (and let’s faced it, it doesn’t matter who wins) the membership of the referendum commisssion, including Mr Injustice Earfly O’Noddle, could look for a job in Zimbabwe’s electoral commission.