The Government and supporters of the Amsterdam Treaty are engaging in a campaign of "misrepresentation and scaremongering, the Green Party asserted yesterday.
Launching her book, Amsterdam Treaty - The Road to an Undemocratic and Military Superstate, the party's MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, said it was an attempt to give people an analysis of some of the most important aspects of the agreement.
The book will be available, free of charge, to the public "to try and fill the information deficit that exists in relation to this referendum, to inform voters about the far-reaching implications for Ireland if we ratify this complex agreement", she added.
It was "disgraceful" that the leader of this State - the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern - should launch the Fianna Fail campaign by warning that a No vote would leave Ireland in a dangerous state of limbo.
These "scare tactics" were deliberately designed to play on voters' ignorance of how the EU system worked and what the Treaty actually meant, she said.
"The Government is not doing its job of telling the people what is in the Amsterdam Treaty. It's sending the Good Friday agreement to every household in the State but is keeping people in the dark about Amsterdam," she added.
Reacting to Ms McKenna's criticisms, the deputy director of Fianna Fail's campaign for the Amsterdam Treaty accused the Green Party of scaremongering and engaging in a campaign of misinformation.
"Every time that a referendum on Europe is held, the Green Party can be relied on to trot out the claim that our neutrality is threatened," Mr Tom Kitt TD said in a statement.
"The Greens are up to their usual tricks of trying to spook and unnerve the electorate."
He said Ireland retained a veto in every decision on common foreign and security policy, and the key point was that neutrality would only be changed following a vote of the Irish people.
"The Greens have been wrong about every substantive point they made during previous referenda, and again they are wrong about Amsterdam. The clear fact is that rather than undermining our neutrality, Amsterdam copperfastens it."
Meanwhile, the Green party TD, Mr John Gormley, criticised a report in yesterday's Irish Times which dealt with the neutrality, defence and security implications of the Treaty.
According to Mr Gormley, the article made "some false state ments".
"It begins by saying that both sides, the Yes and No of the argument agree that approval of the Amsterdam Treaty will not in itself bring about a common European defence policy. That is not the case. We are saying very clearly that it will bring about a common defence policy," he added.
The journalist who wrote the article, Mark Brennock, was "falling into the trap" and "taking on the propaganda of the Yes parties", he said.
According to Mr Gormley, the newspaper report carried only a partial quote from article J7(1) in the Treaty which dealt with the common security and defence policy of member-states. The Yes side had been constantly declining to quote the article in full in order to give the impression that Ireland's neutrality was protected.
"This is complete rubbish. The fact of the matter is, if you read the sentence, they are talking about NATO," he added.
The journalist should "come out and say if he is voting Yes".
"We would ask The Irish Times to stop this thing. If they are going to quote from the Treaty, would they quote properly?" Mr Gormley said.