Mixed reaction to revised referendum wording

Fine Gael and the Labour Party have both welcomed the Government’s amended wording for a second referendum on the Nice Treaty, while Sinn Féin and the Greens have dismissed it as not going far enough.

The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, said he hoped the revised wording would lead to the Treaty, which he said was essential for EU enlargement, being ratified.

The constitutional amendment proposed in the referendum will "ensure the Irish people will have the final say if decision at EU level in favour of common defence were to evolve".

He added that the Government must run a far more convincing campaign than last year to explain the implications of the Treaty to the electorate.

Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairí Quinn, welcomed the revised wording as a "significant step forward" that was evidence the Government had accepted his argument for a constitutional amendment on the issue of neutrality.

"While the Bill today does not follow our exact framework on neutrality nonetheless the proposal if accepted by the people would preclude any future Irish Government from adopting any European mutual defence obligations without the express approval of the Irish people," Mr Quinn said.

However, Sinn Féin and the Green Party maintained there was no substantial difference between this wording and that of the last referendum.

"Neither the wording proposed to be inserted in the Constitution nor the Declarations adopted at Seville can alter one syllable in the Treaty of Nice," Sinn Féin’s Europe spokesman, Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh argued.

"The proposed wording does not adequately address the militarization of the EU which will proceed if Nice is ratified here. The government has failed to safeguard Irish neutrality in the Constitution, a key demand of Sinn Féin, and one widely supported across the political spectrum," he said, adding that his party would again campaign for a No vote.

The lack of "any major adjustment" in the referendum wording is evidence of "a real democratic deficit in Europe", according to Mr John Gormley, the Green’s chairman and foreign affairs spokesman.

Mr Gormley claimed the same wording was being handed back to the electorate and they had "no option" but to campaign "vigorously" against it. "We are hopeful that Irish people will see through this scam," he said.