TREATY CAMPAIGNS:THE GOVERNMENT has sought to coerce rather than convince the electorate about the fiscal treaty, the Sinn Féin Ardfheis has been told.
Deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Government’s campaign had been characterised by the “politics of fear”. With a week to go in the campaign a “very large section have yet to make up their minds”.
Ms McDonald said France, Italy, Greece and even Germany were all saying “the emperor is buck naked, has no clothes and austerity has failed”.
The Dublin Central TD told several hundred delegates in Killarney that a No vote on May 31st would “place Ireland on the right side of a debate at European level”.
She said the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) fund was “not yet established, and cannot legally be without the consent of the Dáil”.
“A vote No is a democratic demand for a new policy that brings investment and jobs.”
The party backed the ardchomhairle’s emergency motion that the treaty would not stabilise the euro and would lead to “at least €6 billion of additional austerity measures post-2015. This is on top of the €8.8 billion in cuts over the next three years as a result of the troika deal”.
Later, during a debate on the Middle East, the party opposed a motion from the Drimnagh cumann in Dublin calling for the credentials of the Israeli ambassador to be withdrawn “while there is conflict in Palestine”.
