Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour caught out on Lisbon – Kelly

Speaking regarding the recent decision by the European Union to
scrutinise Ireland’s budgetary measures before our own parliament, Sinn
Féin Councillor Anthony Kelly has said that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the
Labour Party sold the Lisbon Treaty as a pig in a poke and have now been
caught out.

Cllr. Kelly said:

“Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party sold the Lisbon Treaty to
the electorate on the basis of ‘a vote for Lisbon is a vote for jobs’.
Sinn Féin argued at the time that the Lisbon Treaty would allow greater
EU interference in our affairs. We said that the EU was eyeing up
Ireland’s tax system with a view to harmonising tax systems across the
EU. We were proved right.

“We have now learned that each member state must hand in their draft
budgets in order to get EU approval before they go before parliament.
This is disrespectful of our sovereignty and is an indication that the
EU is becoming more and more obsessed with centralisation and
bureaucracy.

“I am proud to say that the people of Wexford saw through the rhetoric
of the establishment parties in the run-up to the Lisbon referendum. The
people of Wexford voted against the treaty because they saw through the
empty promises of ‘yes for jobs’ and ‘yes for recovery’.The slogan ‘vote
yes for jobs’ truly rings hollow now. They saw the race to the bottom in
pay and conditions for workers in the treaty, they saw the absence of
democratic accountability in the treaty and they saw the chipping away
at our country’s sovereignty contained in the treaty.

“Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party should be ashamed of
themselves. They sold this treaty as a pig in a poke and did so through
blatant lies and scare-mongering.”