Constitution and Tax Concerns

Very important information here in relation to the referendum on October 2nd. The posters are generating great debate on the streets, on the door step, and via the internet.  It is the 'No' campaign who are out there canvassing doors, handing out leaflets on the streets. Many 'undecided' voters will vote No.

http://www.coircampaign.org/index.php/news-articles/recent-news/189-constitution-and-tax-concerns

Coir has come under the spotlight in recent days as a result of their posters which campaigns for a NO vote in the upcoming Lisbon referendum. The posters inform the general public about halving of the Irish voting power in Europe, the fact that most Europeans would vote against the treaty if they got the chance and the threat of small farmer’s livelihood.

Minister Michael Martin has accused Coir of spreading lies and myths. Maria Buckley from Athlone would like the opportunity to defend the organisation whose only concern is the welfare of our country and its citizens.

Maria said “All of our posters contain facts and have been checked and rechecked over the past year by legal experts and authorities on EU law. Some of the posters contain facts from Eurostat the official EU statistics office.  These facts are available on our website www.coircampaign.org

“The posters attracted the wrath of the YES side from both the government and ‘Ireland for Europe’. One poster in particular displaying ‘minimum wage €1.84?’ drew huge attention. I can tell you that this figure was the average minimum wage of the EU accession states and, as stated previously, were obtained from Eurostat” she said.
Ms Buckley said Cóir welcomed scrutiny and debate, and most of all, wanted to engage the public in finding out the facts about the treaty for themselves. She continued “The YES campaign has only mudslinging and smears for their campaign because they cannot refute the truth… They are deliberately avoiding debates on the content of the Treaty as their slogans are repeated vacuous mantras which have no substance.”

“The figure of €1.84 should resonate with a lot of hardworking families already hard pressed to make ends meet. If Lisbon passes the European Court of Justice will have the power to overrule our constitution, and they are already driving down wages by allowing cheap labour to be brought in from abroad to undercut Irish workers. The ECJ has already ruled in 3 other cases against workers striking for fairer wages (Laval, Ruffert and Viking). This will show you the already present mindset of the ECJ in its continual favourtism towards bigger corporations and its contempt for workers.” Maria said

Maria stated that “Not once in the past week has the YES campaign contradicted or even attempted to contradict the poster on the voting structure if Lisbon passes, simply because it is true. Yet they use clichés like ' Yes will make us stronger' how can they back up this claim? They cannot. In fact a Yes vote will put us at bottom end of the influential line with the reduction to 0.8.% of voting power, let’s talk plainly - we would reduce our voice to a bare whisper.