Pro and anti groups call on RTE to give them free time to set out their case on radio and television

The European Movement and the National Platform have written a joint letter to RTE and the Referendum Commission seeking two free broadcasts on the Amsterdam Treaty.

The chairman of the European Movement, Mr Alan Dukes TD, and the secretary of the National Platform, Mr Anthony Coughlan, are maintaining that they are the only non-party groups that are mainly or exclusively concerned with all aspects of the treaty.

Mr Dukes and Mr Coughlan have asked RTE to consult the Referendum Commission about the possibility of allocating them two short free broadcasts each, on radio and television, to enable each body to put the case for and against the treaty next week.

The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, meanwhile, has said the treaty does not infringe upon Irish neutrality. It did not tie Ireland into any military alliance. It was important, she stated, that "we debate what is in the treaty, not what is not in it". Twenty-five years of EU membership had not affected our policy on military neutrality. It would change only if the people so decided.

Fine Gael's campaign director, Mr Gay Mitchell TD, insisted that neutrality would be enshrined in the Constitution for the first time, but only in so far as it applied to EU common defence or EU/WEU merger.

Article J.7 of the treaty provided that any future common defence or EU/WEU merger would, if passed, require three new steps to be taken: an inter-governmental conference; a unanimous decision of the European Council in a summit of heads of Government; and approval in each member- state in accordance with each state's constitutional provisions. In Ireland's case, following the Single European Act judgment, this would require a referendum.

Fianna Fail's referendum director, the Minister for Education, Mr Martin, said the opponents of Ireland's close co-operation with Europe had no credible agenda and were the political equivalent of the Flat Earth Society. While everyone else in the country could see the benefits of our membership, opponents persisted with arguments which had been completely discredited.

He listed areas where the EU had helped us to develop, including employment creation, road improvements, airport developments, funding for education and training, and environmental protection.

The leader of Democratic Left, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, described the provisions of the treaty as by far the most "pro-worker" of the EU treaties to date. Virtually all of the amendments proposed by Amsterdam were, in their view, positive and many of them had been sought by parties of the left all across Europe.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions was wrong to support the Amsterdam Treaty, according to Mr Michael O'Reilly, regional secretary of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union.

The ICTU annual conference in 1995 agreed that in European referendums where Ireland's neutrality was affected, ICTU would hold a special delegate conference to determine its position. Since no such conference was held, ICTU had no mandate to call for a Yes vote.