ULICK McEVADDY, the prominent aviation entrepreneur, has publicly backed the campaign for a No vote in the Lisbon Treaty on the grounds that it is "unintelligible drivel" and will adversely affect Ireland's low tax regime.
Mr McEvaddy announced he intended to vote No in the referendum on June 12th at a press conference in Dublin yesterday that was organised by Libertas, the group campaigning against the treaty.
Flanked by Libertas founder Declan Ganley, Mr McEvaddy told the conference he had read the treaty four times and still could not understand it.
He said that lawyers would make a fortune out of it. "The treaty is so ambiguous; you could take every line of it and challenge it. It is unintelligible drivel."
Mr McEvaddy has long-standing familial connections with Fine Gael and is a friend of Ireland's European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy and of former PD leader Mary Harney.
Yesterday, he said he discussed his decision to oppose the treaty with Mr McCreevy who was "saddened" by his decision but respected it. He said he had not discussed it with Ms Harney.
On the treaty's tax implications, Mr McEvaddy said: "Our low tax base has been a tremendous engine for our success. The vetos we have in place are not sufficient to keep us immune or copperfastened against the changes other countries may make."
Mr Ganley praised Mr McEvaddy for his courage in making his opposition public. "It's not the norm for business figures to take on the status quo and Government," he said.
However, in response, Fianna Fáil MEP Eoin Ryan asked why are the major business organisations in Ireland supporting this treaty if they really believe it will negatively impact on the country's corporation tax arrangements? Mr Ryan said the EU cannot take any decisions over taxation rates unless it is with the unanimous agreement of all 27 EU states.
Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan accepted yesterday that there were serious concerns among farmers about the current world trade negotiations but that she was working very hard to ensure that a balanced outcome was achieved and that vulnerable sectors - such as the beef sector - were protected.
She told RTÉ's This Week that the Government was taking seriously the warning from farming organisations about voting No if the outcome of the trade talks was not favourable.
The Referendum Commission has launched an information website on the forthcoming referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The site is the first element of a €5 million information campaign in advance of the referendum. The website www.lisbontreaty2008.ie contains information on the treaty and also gives information on who is eligible to vote and how to register to vote.