FF PRESS CONFERENCE:SINN FÉIN'S accusations that the European Union is bidding to become a military power are an "outrageous slur", the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, has said.
Launching a strong attack on Sinn Féin, Mr Martin said Martin McGuinness had lauded the EU's peaceful ambitions in Brussels last year.
Then, Mr McGuinness said: "It should be remembered that the European project began following the mass destruction of two world wars. Its aim was to replace conflict with co-operation, peace and prosperity.
"We have much to learn from this approach and much to offer by way of our own experiences of reconstruction and conflict transformation. We want to continue this journey with our European partners. The taskforce report provides us with a comprehensive roadmap to further co-operation, peace and prosperity," he had added.
Speaking at a Fianna Fáil press conference, the Minister demanded that Sinn Féin clarify its attitude to the EU.
"In order to defeat the treaty SF is calling the EU in essence a force for war. Yet in Brussels they are calling it a force for peace.
"It is time for Sinn Féin to apologise for their tactics and to explain to the Irish electorate what they are saying to a European audience. It is for Martin McGuinness and Mary Lou McDonald to explain their directly contradictory statements," Mr Martin said.
The Irish decision on the Lisbon Treaty will show "whether or not we want the EU to be a force for good for the next 50 years, as it has been for the last 50 years", he said.
Joined by the Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, Mr Martin said: "I have been very saddened by the posters that have appeared around Dublin saying that it is a vote for war. This is an outrageous slur." The EU, he said, "is, first and foremost, a promoter of peace". Mr O'Dea said average EU spending on defence was less than 2 per cent.