Supporters of treaty accused of lying over claims of jobs boost

TREATY OPPONENTS:POLITICAL PARTIES supporting the fiscal treaty referendum have been accused of "telling lies" by Socialist MEP Paul Murphy, who is calling for a No vote.

Mr Murphy and United Left Alliance (ULA) TDs, who gathered outside Fine Gael headquarters in Dublin yesterday morning, focused on statements made by parties which had proposed a Yes vote in the second Lisbon Treaty referendum, held in October 2009.

They argued that jobs were promised during the 2009 campaign, but more than 100,000 positions had in fact been lost.

“It proves that point one: that you can’t trust these people, that they’re telling lies in this campaign like they told lies in the last campaign on the questions of funding and so on,” Mr Murphy said.

“And two,” he added, “that austerity policies have fundamentally failed.”

He was joined outside the Mount Street premises by Socialist TD Clare Daly and People Before Profit deputy Joan Collins, who were both elected under the ULA umbrella.

Mr Murphy claimed extra cuts and taxes were required by the treaty to be voted on, on May 31st, and warned that the result of a Yes vote would be “economic devastation” for Ireland.

“So their slogan, ‘For a working Ireland’, will turn into a complete joke, just like their slogan ‘Yes for jobs’ turns into a joke now,” he said.

Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton said she rejected as “scaremongering” the claim that the treaty would create unemployment.

“At their photo stunt today the ULA resorted to yet more scare tactics when they claimed that the stability treaty would lead to unemployment,” Ms Creighton said.

“The fact is that companies and businesses across this country are in favour of this treaty.

“Those who create jobs rather than those who talk about it, know that a Yes vote will guarantee the stability and investor confidence Ireland needs to continue on the correct economic path,” Ms Creighton added.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin spokesman on enterprise Peadar Tóibín said growth and the fiscal treaty were “mutually exclusive”.

Mr Tóibín said the policies of the Irish and German governments and those of the European Central Bank were “being isolated by the democratic wishes of the people”.

He said there were currently some 17 million people unemployed throughout Europe.

“It is time that the policies being developed in Europe reflected the demands of the people of Europe,” Mr Tóibín added.

The Charter Group, which describes itself as a registered civil society group of trade unionists, yesterday called for a Yes vote.

The group’s secretary Blair Horan said: “There is renewed hope in Europe that the election of François Hollande as the new French president will provide the initiative needed for a European growth strategy of investment to create jobs.”