McCreevy: you must be insane to read the treaty
Saturday May 24 2008
European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy yesterday claimed no "sane person" would actually want to read the entire Lisbon Treaty.
The former finance minister's amusing intervention overshadowed an escalating dispute between farmers and the Government over the possible use of a veto on a World Trade Organisation deal.
Admitting he hadn't read the treaty document in its entirety, Mr McCreevy said he didn't think ordinary decent Irish people would go through it in full.
Sensible
He said hadn't read it and he didn't expect "any sane and sensible person" to be spending the weekend going through it from cover to cover.
"I did not, and I doubt whether there's anyone in this room has read it cover to cover.
"I don't expect ordinary decent Irish people, or anywhere in the globe, to be sitting down and spending hours and hours reading sections about subsections referring to articles about sub-articles. But there is sufficient analysis done," he said.
Meanwhile Taoiseach Brian Cowen is coming under increasing pressure to state if the Government will use its veto on the WTO talks, if the deal does satisfactorily protect Irish interests, and the agriculture sector in particular.
Mr Cowen said he felt it was "foolish" for the Irish Farmers Association to link the Lisbon Treaty referendum to the WTO negotiations.
The country's leading farmers organisation is still threatening to recommend a 'No' vote to its members if it is not satisfied with the WTO talks and the approach of European Commissioner Peter Mandelson.
IFA president Padraig Walshe said he was disappointed by Mr Cowen's view. "We've said the Government must come out now and say they're prepared to veto the deal," he said.
Mr Walshe said there was a connection with Lisbon because of the effect of the new Treaty on the veto.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny agrees that Mr Cowen must reassure farmers that the Government would use its veto if the WTO deal wasn't up to scratch.
"I do think there should be no confusion about this. They should say straight out that if it's not acceptable in terms of the protection of the model of European agriculture that we have and the family farm structure here and the career that is still available in agriculture, they would not accept the deal and would use the veto if they had to do that," he said.
Alliances
But Mr Cowen continues to insist the issues of Lisbon and the WTO must be kept separate. The Taoiseach firmly insisted that "none of our red lines are being crossed".
"What we have to do is make sure we get a 'Yes' vote for Lisbon so we will have a Minister for Agriculture who will be able to build the alliances as we have done in the past," he said.
The 'No' to Lisbon campaign group, Libertas, also insisted the treaty will bring an end to the Irish veto on WTO deals and its director, Declan Ganley, was critical of the Government's stance.
"They have been misleading the public on this issue and it boggles the mind to see them keep insisting there is a veto when there is none," he said.
- Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor
