Public Meetings offer alternative to Austerity Treaty – Wexford Sinn Féin

Wexford Sinn Féin has announced details of countywide meetings to highlight the dangers of a yes vote in the May 31st Fiscal Compact Referendum and to offer realistic alternatives to the permanent austerity measures cited in the treaty. Speaking after a meeting of the County Wexford Sinn Féin Comhairle Ceantar Officer Board in Wexford town last night, new Chairman Oisin O’ Connell branded recent statements from government and pro treaty pundits as being ‘misleading, disingenuous and in some cases, blatant falsehoods.’

Mr O’ Connell said;

“Wexford Sinn Féin has decided to hold a series of public meetings across this county over the coming month to highlight the dangers of voting yes in the fiscal compact referendum on the 31st of May and to dismiss the lie that there is no alternative to this treaty. We aim to educate people to the very real alternatives that some pro treaty commentators have attempted to bury. Meetings will be held in our county towns and the larger villages in an effort to accommodate as many people as possible.”

“Many of the arguments made for voting yes to this treaty have been pathetic, suggesting that a yes vote is bad but a no vote is worst. This type of scaremongering has already muddied the waters in this debate and made our decision to call these public meetings offering viable alternatives a necessity. I have been particularly shocked by comments made by proponents of the yes side in the past few days which have been misleading, disingenuous and in some cases, blatant falsehoods.”

“To suggest that in the aftermath of a no vote, Ireland will be cast off from the rest of Europe like a social pariah, denied access to future funding and be left to default is not only entirely false but also ridiculous. Do they take us for mugs? Ireland’s membership of the EU will not be affected in any way by a no vote to this intergovernmental treaty. Such a treaty cannot overrule membership entitlements that have been set in stone by previous treaties such as Nice and Maastricht.”

“In the aftermath of a no vote we will still have the same inherent right to funding that we have now and we will still be able to access this funding from the EFSF as every member state can. We will still have the same entitlement to be helped back to the sovereign bond markets by the ECB which is afforded under that banks mandate to all member states. We will not be denied funding. We will not be left to default. The sky won’t fall in.”

“People need to be aware of the truths concerning this treaty. I urge people to attend our meetings. I appeal to them to join the campaign, to organise a public meeting in their area or to help distribute literature warning of the dangers posed by a yes vote. People are welcome to join the campaign against the austerity treaty in County Wexford by texting JOIN followed by your name and address to 086-2397192.”