Electorate bullied into Yes vote
Press statement: October 3, 2009
Electorate bullied into Yes vote
Call cynical Labour and trade union leaders to account
Resist cuts — break the Stability & Growth Pact rules
Time for Change - Women Say No To Lisbon
The privatisation of health services and cuts that the Lisbon Treaty facilitates will directly affect women. An example of this is what is happening now with cervical smear testing. In 2008, the HSE awarded US company Quest Diagnostics a contract to analyse smear tests – a company that had to pay out $40 million in fraud settlements over the past 10 years and $302 million over faulty test devices.
There are consequences for women from this outsourcing. When smear tests are analysed abroad indigenous laboratory expertise is lost and, worse for the women concerned, their medical records are not readily accessible – or perhaps not accessible at all.
If Lisbon is passed on Friday, we’ll get more of the same because Article 207 of the treaty removes the veto governments now have on the EU’s international proposals to liberalise health, education and social services. Keeping the power to veto proposals could help us tthat would let even more multinationals make profits from essential services.
In addition, Article 136 strengthens the EU’s powers to set policy for member states who don’t adhere to the Stability and Growth Pact – the reason for the cuts proposed by Colm McCarthy. This means more pressure to cut public spending. This resulting cuts in services will directly affect women who are primarily responsible for childcare and care of the elderly.
Lisbon: Bad for all Europeans
SayNo.ie
Lisbon: bad for all Europeans.
Time for change - the first step is to say No.
Campaigners from across Europe today call for a No vote to the Lisbon Treaty. The crisis in Ireland is mirrored throughout Europe, with banks being bailed out, over 20 million unemployed and pressure to cut social spending. At the same time European forces are increasingly embroiled in unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
There are no jobs to be had by voting yes. The multinationals are here to maximise profits. They made €17.5bn here last year, so another No won't scare them off. Lisbon would make the recession worse by giving the EU further power to restrict government spending, which means fewer people can buy goods and services – so more jobs are lost.
This is the time to change direction, away from the failed neoliberalism which has caused the crisis and away from militarism – both of which are embodied in Lisbon. It's time for the peoples of Europe to determine the direction of the European project, not the political elite. We have already rejected this Treaty, and most of the peoples of Europe are being denied the right to vote upon it.
How the EU is enforcing cuts and backing NAMA
The EU is enforcing the cutbacks via the Stability & Growth Pact in the existing treaties. Lisbon adds to these powers (Article 136 TFEU). While the ECB has said that the government shouldn't overpay for the NAMA loans, it has backed NAMA in principle, and has said it is preferable to nationalisation - indicating NAMA is an ideological rather than a technical 'solution'. For more details, see our 2009 Publications section.
Emergency appeal for funds
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The CAEUC is not a wealthy campaign. We do not have corporate backers like the Yes side. If you can afford to support the campaign please do so by clicking on the Donate button or transferring money to our bank account. Bank Account Details: Account Name: Campaign Against The EU Constitution |
Women Say No to Lisbon press conference
As reported in the Irish Times, Women Say No to Lisbon held a press conference on Monday 14th September. Read the press statement.
Diary Notice Press Conference Women Say No to Lisbon - Again Buswells Hotel 11am, September 30th 2009
Time for Change, Time to Vote No Again
Tomorrow at 11am in Buswells Hotel, Molesworth Street, Women Say No To Lisbon hold a final press conference. Speakers include Maureen O’Sullivan TD
Cllr Brid Smith
Cllr Joan Collins
Mary Crotty and others.
Therese Caherty: 086 0704036
Yes side get more media coverage
TNS MediaMarket analysis reveals Lisbon Treaty media battle being won by ‘Yes’ vote
MediaMarket, part of TNS media intelligence, has released analysis data showing Lisbon Treaty YES campaigners commanding 51% of the national and Sunday press coverage of the topic between 31/08/09 and 06/09/09, compared to 24% for the NO campaigners. The print media coverage for the timeframe also reflects a concern by YES campaigners that voters will use the Lisbon Treaty to register a NO protest vote against the current Government.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen drove much of the Lisbon coverage during the period, allowing Fianna Fail to be the most prominent YES campaigners in the press last week. However, his presence in the debate was not always positive. Fine Gael and Labour, second and third respectively in the YES campaigners league, focused on trying to appeal to voters to concentrate on the substance of the Treaty rather than punishing the Government. However, the ‘united’ approach to the Treaty by the major political parties also carried well in the press, with seven articles on the subject.
The top three non-political YES contributors last week were “Ireland for Europe”, “We Belong” and Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary, sharing fifth spot in the YES campaign league, each with 17 articles.
Much of the focus of the YES campaign remains on damning the NO debate, with Michéal Martin and Dick Roche condemning the tactics of Coir. However, Coir has managed to grab significant press attention through its campaign messaging, particularly on its minimum wage posters, which garnered 24 articles last week.
Sinn Fein and Patricia McKenna’s People’s Movement returned second and third place in the NO campaigners league, though Sinn Fein’s coverage was somewhat off-subject, concentrating more on its TNS MRBI poll results.
