A Yes vote in Saturday's referendum on the Nice Treaty would show Ireland was willing to share its prosperity with its neighbours, Fine Gael leader Mr Enda Kenny said today.
Senior party members including Mr John Bruton, Mr Gay Mitchel, Ms Mary Banotti and Mr Richard Bruton, also spoke at the press conference, which was also attended by former FG leader and taoiseach Mr Garret Fitzgerald and former party leader Mr Michael Noonan.
Mr Kenny criticised parties campaigning for a No vote - saying they were misleading voters. He said the Green Party's agenda had gained more than any other party's through EU membership and questioned their support for a No vote when their sister parties in Europe were calling for the opposite.
He said Nice was about democracy, that it was "about propping up the fragile, fledgling democracies of Eastern Europe", and "giving the people there stability."
He also questioned Sinn Féin's role, emphasising that it was Fine Gael that founded the Irish State and asked why countries in Europe, whose memory of oppression was more recent than Ireland's, would be excluded.
He said people seemed better informed this time around and to those who wished to punish the Government by voting against the referendum, he said: "There will be another day on which to cast a vote against the Government".
