A sinister, highly professional campaign "of dis information" funded from outside the State is under way and is proving difficult to counteract by the Yes side in the Nice Treaty referendum, the Taoiseach has claimed.
Mr Ahern was speaking in Killarney, Co Kerry, on Saturday before a visit to the World Council of Credit Unions international conference, as the results of an Irish Times/MRBI poll showed a narrowing gap between the sides in the campaign. The Taoiseach said £100,000 was being pumped into the No campaign in what he called "the black-and-red poster campaign", headquartered in an office in his constituency.
"I'd be interested to see if it's [£100,000] declared to the public office commission. It's from an office in my constituency . . . It's a sinister campaign of disinformation. It's cleverly organised."
The effect of the posters, which were in all parts of the country from Donegal to Kerry, was proving difficult to counteract and had not been anticipated by the Government, he admitted. "If there was anything missed in this, we didn't think that the extent of foreign money would be pushed into this country for the campaign.
"To the best of my knowledge, there's been no collection in this country for the No campaign.
"The money is foreign money trying to influence the Irish voter with a campaign of disinformation. I think we should stand up to that."
The independence from EU issue was not coming from Sinn Fein, which was concentrating on NATO, Mr Ahern said. The money for the campaign was largely American money from a right-wing fundamentalist organisation.
Because of the highly organised, highly funded black-and-red No campaign, which was receiving more finance than all the political parties together had put into the Yes campaign, "it's difficult to put across the message. People are reading these posters all over the country," Mr Ahern said.
However, the Government would do all it could to put across the Yes side and would win, the Taoiseach said. As a negotiator of the treaty, Mr Ahern said he was putting his reputation on the line in calling for a Yes vote.
What the Irish people were being asked, Mr Ahern said, was to give countries which had been under the tyranny and domination of the Soviet Union an opportunity to join Europe.
"This is our opportunity to help the other applicant countries and that's what this campaign is about.
"It's not about American money, Danish money and Eurosceptic money from Britain in here to wrong-foot the Irish people," the Taoiseach said.