TAOISEACH:THE NO campaign is trying to spread confusion among voters about the Lisbon Treaty in a bid to reduce turnout in next Thursday's referendum, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said last night.
He accused those involved in the No campaign of trying "to turn people" off and keep down turnout in next week's poll.
This was because the lower the turnout the better the chance of the treaty being defeated by the "20 per cent who have always opposed the European project", he said in Maam Cross, Connemara.
Responding to yesterday Irish Times/TNS mrbi opinion poll, which showed a surge in support for the No camp, Mr Cowen said he was "glad" if the poll would galvanise support for the Yes campaign.
Speaking later to a gathering of hundreds of Fianna Fáil members, Mr Cowen urged them to appeal "to the Irish people's better motives. If we do that, I am certain that we will get a Yes vote next Thursday."
The No campaign's argument that Ireland could have a consequence-free vote was "naive at best, and a misrepresentation at worst. Political action comes with consequences. That is the way that it is. That's life."
He said Ireland needed goodwill in Europe and to build alliances, and for people to say that Ireland showed solidarity when it was needed.
The No camp, he said, had issued forth "shrill nonsense" throughout the campaign: "This is Plan B, remember. We don't need a better deal because we have got everything that we wanted in the negotiations."
Speaking earlier in Galway, during a tour of the county, Mr Cowen insisted that the referendum can be won: "I am not contemplating defeat. I am working for a victory, and I believe that we will have it."
In Ballinasloe, Mr Cowen told reporters that Ireland's standing in the European Union had been damaged by the rejection of the first Nice Treaty referendum seven years ago and it took years to repair.
Urging Fianna Fáil members "to keep going to the very end" in search of votes, he outlined what he said pointed to repercussions of the first Nice Treaty loss.
"I saw the difficulty and the damage that was faced in our rejection of the Nice 1 treaty. We were in a position to come back and get the Nice Treaty passed, but let there be no doubt that we had to strenuously over a period of months and years ensure that Ireland's standing was re-established.
"Certainly, the Irish presidency of the EU in 2004, and our successful negotiation of that draft constitutional treaty restored goodwill that had been lost, which had been taken away because of the failure to comprehend by our fellow member states of the EU what the signal was that we were trying to send," he said.
Damage would equally be sustained if the Lisbon Treaty was rejected: "We have got a decision to make next Thursday about whether Ireland wants to be at the centre of events, whether we want to be at the heart of the EU process, or whether we send a negative signal which has the consequence of marginalising our influence."
The attacks launched by the No campaign on Lisbon were wrong, he said, insisting that Ireland's key vetoes on tax, neutrality and world trade talks would remain intact.
In addition, the decision to ensure that each member state was treated equally when it came to sharing out places on a European Commission reduced in size was "a negotiating achievement" by the Government.
"There is nothing here to fear in this treaty. All of our major requirements have been accommodated. It is a balanced treaty."
Rejecting a claim by a member of the public in Galway's Shop Street that Lisbon would create a European army, Mr Cowen said: "It doesn't. I negotiated it. It doesn't say that."
