VoteNo.ie is a website that is initiated by socialists to campaign for a No vote. We will include material from a wide variety of sources – some of which differ from our own stances - as long as they are not promoting racist or right-wing nationalist views.
This site has two editors:
Kieran Allen is the author of the Booklet Reasons to VOTE NO to the Lisbon Treaty and a number of other books, including The Corporate Take Over of Ireland (2007) and The Celtic Tiger: The Myth of Social Partnership (2000)
Sinead Kennedy has written on culture and politics, women and the Celtic Tiger.
She is a long standing campaigner against war and for women’s rights.
A new report by UCD Sociologist Kieran Allen analyzes
the various arguments that have been advanced in recent weeks to promote a
repeat vote. These include:
* A claim that the Irish people
are less informed on the EU than most other countries and therefore
voted NO from a lack of understanding.
* A claim that Ireland will face economic
ruin if it maintains its No position.
* A claim that the vote must be reversed
because Ireland needs EU backing to overcome the recession. In a statement, Kieran Allen
said,
"The arguments advanced by the Yes campaign start from
a technocratic elitist position. They assume that European specialists
know best and that their opponents suffer a form of ignorance. It is
sad to see such a profound contempt for democracy.
"Experts who know more about the complexities of European decision-making have
no right to claim that the Irish people must keep on voting until they
get the right answer.
"The Irish government has equally no right to discard the popular mandate they were given to press for the
scrapping of the Lisbon Treaty. To conceal this disdain for democracy, spurious
arguments are being re-cycled through elite think tanks and
institutions.
"Contrary to these claims, there is no solid evidence to suggest that NO voters were more ignorant of the EU than
Yes voters. A claim made by an ESRI Professor that Ireland was forced to give a
guarantee to foreign banks as well as Irish banks is factually wrong. The
pressure to do so came from competition laws enshrined in the Lisbon
Treaty. Nor is there any evidence that foreign
investment has declined inIreland because of the Lisbon Treaty.
We predict that it will be more directly affected by changes in US tax
laws and by the current global recession. Far from offering protection
against the recession, the neo-liberal policies that are enshrined in
the Lisbon treaty have become a major obstacle.
Read More
Anyone watching the coverage of President
Sarkozy's visit could not fail to notice his sheer brazen arrogance.. Here was a
guy who, only the previous week, had stated that the Irish must vote again. That
this is not what happened in his own country, after the failed 2005 referendum
on the then Constitutional Treaty, seems to have slipped his mind. Read More
Today's rejection of the
Lisbon Treaty is a victory for everyone who opposes a Europe dominated by big
business. It is also a victory for everyone who opposes the new militarism that
is creeping over Europe. Many of the 490 million people in Europe who were
deprived of their right to vote on this Treaty will be also delighted. In
rejecting Lisbon. Irish voters have struck a blow for democracy and demonstrated
their solidarity with their fellow Europeans. Read More
Ann Crotty has travelled back from South
Africa to campaign for a No vote. It is thanks to her father, Raymond Crotty,
that the Irish were the only people in Europe who were given a vote on the
Lisbon Treaty. His Supreme Court case forced the Irish political establishment
to holding referenda on major EU treaties. Here Ann Crotty outlines her
impressions of the campaign. Read More
The European Central Bank has just announced that it is considering raising interest rates at its next meeting.
This raises further questions about the details of what is contained in the Lisbon Treaty. Read More
During the current Lisbon referendum
campaign, numerous politicians, business and think-tank leaders and
spokespersons have repeatedly asserted that EU Member States, including Ireland,
have a veto on whether or not the EU signs up to a WTO free-trade deal on
agricultural goods. Barry Finnegan, from the CAEUC group has
shown, definitely, how this is not true. Read more
One of the major arguments
on the Yes side is that the Lisbon Treaty is all about making the EU more
democratic. Yet the Irish are the only people in Europe who get to vote on the
Lisbon Treaty. Opinion polls across all 27 Member States show that between 60
and 70 percent of EU citizens want a Referendum on this Treaty. They are being
systematically denied this right for one reason, EU leaders fear people will not
vote the way they are told. Read More
Eamon Gilmore's attack on SIPTU for
raising 'sectional' concerns on the Lisbon Treaty reflects a growing frustration
in the Yes camp. Gilmore was furious at SIPTU's failure to support the treaty
but his attack reveal more about where he intends to take
Labour. Read More
A report in the Irish Times that the Yes campaign will be spending in the region of €2.3 million
during the Lisbon Treaty Referendum raises important questions about the level
of corporate interference in Irish democracy Read More
Much has been made by Yes supporters of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and it is claimed that this is such a
progressive document that it out-weights other provisions of the Treaty which will introduce more privatisation and militarization. Read More
VoteNo.ie rejects recent
claims by Trade Union leader, Blair Horan (General Secretary of the CPSU) that
the Lisbon treaty will protect the values of social
Europe. Read More
The largest union in the country is
calling an information meeting on the Lisbon Treaty. Unfortunately, the
information will be somewhat one sided . The only advertised guest speaker at
the Dublin meeting is Martin Territt, Director of the European Commission in
Ireland. Read More
The EU is planning to set up a diplomatic
service with missions in 125 countries after the Irish vote on the Lisbon
Treaty. An EU Summit in Brussels, which will be held a week after the Irish
referendum, will provide more details on the plans. Read More
The Lisbon Reform Treaty creates the legal basis for the liberalisation of services of general economic interest (Art. 106). A yes vote for the Lisbon Treaty creates the potential for increased opportunities for Irish business particularly in areas subject to increasing liberalisation such as Health, Education, Transport, Energy and the Environment. Read more
The national executive of the Technical
Engineering and Electrical Union is advising members to vote 'No' in the
referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. General Secretary Designate Eamon Devoy says,
"The TEEU favours a social Europe but unfortunately recent key judgements by the
European Court of Justice show that the pendulum has swung against workers'
rights and in favour of big business. In the circumstances it would be
foolish to provide the institutions of the European Union with more
power." Read More
A Sunday Business Post poll has shown
that the No side in the Lisbon Treaty debate are on course for victory. If
campaigning intensifies in the coming seven weeks, the political establishment
will receive their greatest political defeat. Read More
Kieran Allen,
one of the editors of the Voteno.ie appeared before a Dail Committee of Yes
supporting TDs and Senators and accused them of evading discussion on the
details of the Lisbon Treaty and of trying to "frighten and bore" people into
voting yes. Read More
Harry van Bommel Dutch
MP (Socialist Party) delivered this speech at meetings organised by People
before Profit in Dublin, Cork and Tralee, March 4-6
2008 Read More
In an interview with Intelligence Review (EIR)
Harry Van Bommel Describes how the Lisbon treaty will have negative effects
for democracy in Europe. Read more
Special report from David Cronin, a Brussels
based Irish journalist, on McCreevy's attack on minimum wage policies
This article originally appeared on the Guardian website. Read More
On 5th September 2006, the EU Health Commissioner, Markos Kyprianou, was
reported as saying that the European Commission is going to promote greater privatisation of health. Read More
A new report, Climate Change and International
Security, written by Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy supremo and Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, the commissioner for external relations suggests that the EU
will be involved in future resource wars Read More .
The members of the European Parliament who voted
against accepting the outcome of The Irish referendum have something else to be
ashamed of. Many of them are embroiled in an expenses scandal Read More .
A German court has ruled that a measure to stop
a race to the bottom in postal services comes was illegal. It represents another
threat to the wages and conditions of postal workers. Read More
The members of the European Parliament who voted
against accepting the outcome of The Irish referendum have something else to be
ashamed of. Many of them are embroiled in an expenses scandal Read More .
A German court has ruled that a measure to stop
a race to the bottom in postal services comes was illegal. It represents another
threat to the wages and conditions of postal workers. Read More
The following e mail interview was conducted with one of the editors of
Voteno.ie , Kieran Allen for the United Irelander blog. It outlines why
we are opposing the Lisbon Treaty from a left wing viewpoint and makes
some other connections with Left-Right politics in Ireland. Read More
Following a debate in the EU Parliament's
employment committee, concerns are growing about the Laval case. They suggest
that the case could turn many trade unionists against the Lisbon Treaty. One
union, UNITE, has already called for a No vote and a vigorous debate is now set
to occur in other unions. Read More
The EU Parliament showed a staggering contempt
for democracy when 449 MEPs voted against an amendment to accept the outcome of
Ireland's decision on the Lisbon Treaty. Read More
It seems that government anxiety levels
are on the rise. And it is not only the Mahon tribunal that has Fianna Fail
worried, but it seems there is increasing alarm that the ratification of the
Lisbon Treaty may not be the slam-dunk they were hoping
for. Read More
Will the Lisbon Treaty help tackle climate
change? The treaty, only contains an aspiration to 'combat climate
change'. The real direction of current EU policy has been starkly revealed in
the fiasco over bio fuels. Read More
A vote in the EU Parliament has paved the
way for unbridled competition in the postal service. It will have a negative
effect on workers and consumers and is a further indication of how the EU is
pushing privatisation. Read More
The dangers posed by the provision in the
Lisbon Treaty to create a new EU Foreign Minister was illustrated by the way
Franco Frattini, an EU Commission Vice President gave full backing to Israel' s
illegal blockade of Gaza. Read More
The VoteNo.ie website condemns the
decision by the UCD Law Society to invite French Fascist, Jean Marie Le Pen, to
Ireland to debate the Lisbon Treaty. Read More
The recent Laval judgement of the ECJ represents an important attack on union rights. Read More
Booklet: 'Reasons to Vote No to the Lisbon Treaty' - Kieran Allen
to order Send €3 to P.O. Box 1648
Dublin 8 or bulk orders
€25 for ten copies.
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