Cóir claim gaining traction, says Martin

MINIMUM WAGE:THERE IS evidence that Cóir's suggestion the minimum wage might fall to €1.84 if the Lisbon Treaty is passed has "gained traction", according to Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin.

“The most actively spread invention is the Cóir/Youth Defence scare about the minimum wage being cut by 80 per cent. This has been repeatedly disproved, but the posters are still going up and the leaflets are still being delivered,” Mr Martin said.

“In terms of the minimum wage, the Cóir group put forward that poster with the question mark. We do have some evidence that it gained traction for some time and may still have traction in some quarters, and we’re very anxious to nail that lie.”

A Fianna Fáil source said the evidence that the minimum wage claim was gaining credence among some voters was anecdotal evidence collected by canvassers on working-class estates.

Cóir spokesman Brian Hickey said “Irish political parties” had shown they did not care about protecting workers and their right to earn a living wage.

“We challenge Minister Martin to debate this issue with Cóir . . . because the facts support Cóir’s case and the Minister knows that,” Mr Hickey said.

Meanwhile, Mr Martin said a leaflet due to be distributed to every household in the State in the coming days was a “deeply cynical” attempt by the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) to forward its own agenda.

Ahead of a visit by former leader of UKIP MEP Nigel Farage to Ireland today, Mr Martin said the party was behind “the nastiest, most deceptive piece of literature ever distributed in an Irish referendum”.

Mr Martin said the contents of the leaflet were designed to portray the EU as an organisation that is out to destroy “all that the Irish people hold dear”. He said it contained the “extreme anti-foreigner rhetoric of the British right” and was trying to frighten a wide range of interest groups on issues such as tax, euthanasia and property rights.

“The most extraordinary thing about this publication is that its true origins are missing. It does mention a parliamentary group which no one will have heard of,” he said. The Minister was referring to the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group in the European Parliament. In July, Mr Farage joined with 29 other Eurosceptic MEPs to form the group.

“To anyone who receives this publication I say, don’t be fooled and don’t take anything on its face value. This is a dishonest attempt to promote an extreme anti-EU agenda which would do great damage to Ireland if it succeeds,” Mr Martin said.Meanwhile, Minister for Defence Willie O’Dea said Lisbon did nothing to diminish Ireland’s policy of military neutrality.

“While the treaty makes this clear itself, we have worked with our EU partners to secure . . . guarantees to reinforce this,” Mr O’Dea said. He said the idea of the increased militarisation of the EU was “nonsensical myth”.