By Sarah Collins - 29th January 2008
Irish minister of state for European affairs Dick Roche has said that he would like a referendum on the Lisbon treaty within the first half of the year.
“I have argued in favour of the first half of the year,” said Roche.
But he concluded that the date would be “a little way off”.
He made the comments Monday after meeting with parliament president Hans-Gert Pöttering, who he invited to Ireland in advance of a vote.
Opposition leaders in Ireland are concerned that taoiseach Bertie Ahern is delaying a referendum date until after his appearances with a planning and payments tribunal are concluded.
The Mahon tribunal is investigating Ahern’s financial affairs in the period before he became taoiseach in 1997.
Irish MEP Gay Mitchell, and member of the opposition Fine Gael party, said he didn’t know what the taoiseach’s "reasoning" was for wanting to delay a referendum.
“We’re running out of time,” he told the Parliament Magazine. “We as an opposition party feel that this should be dealt with before the summer recess.”
He said that a poll in the Irish Times published Friday, which found that 64 per cent of Irish people don’t know how they will vote in a referendum, was “probably right” and urged the government to begin the debate on the treaty.
“People don’t know [about the treaty] because the debate hasn’t yet started,” Mitchell said.
He added that his party would be "leading a vigorous campaign for a 'yes' vote".
Roche said there was some “bizarre commentary” taking place in his country and that the treaty needs to be explained to the people in a “factual, objective and truthful way”.
“The point we’re making to the Irish people is this,” said Roche. “Europe and the world have a very uncertain future. There is no advantage in voting ‘no’ and in frustrating Europe.”
He added there is “no coherent or rational reason” for the Irish to vote ‘no’ on the Lisbon treaty.
Pöttering said, “The Irish citizens are free to decide what they want. I will make my argument in favour of the reform treaty.”
The president said there was no date set for his Irish visit, but hoped it would be “a way not to teach the Irish but to have an exchange of views”.
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