Government Conspiracy over the Lisbon Treaty?

According to a detailed report in yesterday's Irish edition of the Daily Mail an e-mail from a senior Irish official in the Department of Foreign Affairs to his counterpart in the British embassy in Dublin reveals that the government is systematically hiding key information about the Lisbon Treaty from voters.

The e-mail also states that the Irish government has sought and received assurances from EU officials that they will "stay quiet" on the contents of the Treaty for the duration of the campaign, and that the Irish government has deliberately brought forward the date of the Referendum, because of the likelihood of several embarrassing details about the Lisbon Treaty being revealed during the French presidency of the EU in the second half of this year.

The most damning thing about the e-mail is the admission that our government hopes that "very few people would actually read the text of the Treaty", and would simply "vote with the local politicians they trust". In other words, the government, Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, the PDs and the civil servants are taking us for fools. And the opposition parties who - strangely enough - support the government in the "Yes" campaign for the Treaty, are accomplices in that, too.

The story in the Irish Daily Mail requires an immediate and full clarification from the government. If the story is accurate - which must be assumed as the government has issued no protest or denial statement - it means that senior officials in the Irish government, paid from our tax money and supposed to be loyal to the state and the nation, are actively conspiring to release as little information as possible about the Lisbon Treaty in order to preserve the chances of a "Yes" vote.

It also means that our government is in cahoots with Brussels to keep the most unpopular aspects of the Lisbon Treaty under wraps until after we have voted on it.
Then - in case of an acceptance of the Treaty - the Irish people will be told that they have to accept whatever the EU is imposing on us, because "we accepted the Lisbon Treaty and there's nothing we can do". (The same happened after the Maastricht Treaty and the Nice Treaty.)

Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the newspaper story is that Dermot Mulhall, the Irish official who allegedly authored this e-mail, is a civil servant in the Department for Foreign Affairs. His responsibility is to the people of Ireland, not to his political masters, the EU or foreign powers. Nevertheless he briefed Elizabeth Green, a senior diplomat in the British embassy in Dublin, reassuring her (and her political masters) that the Irish government "is doing everything possible" to push the Lisbon Treaty successfully through the up-coming Referendum.

The Irish government has sent in the recent past a booklet about the rules of the road to every single household in the country (including those who don't have a car and don't drive).
Currently there is a new booklet sent out, dealing with all sorts of emergencies. But there is no effort made to inform the Irish population about the Lisbon Treaty and all its details. But this is needed to understand the matter.
Please contact your TD and tell him/her that you demand to be fully informed about the Lisbon Treaty and wish to have a complete copy of its text.

The Emerald Islander