Misunderstandings led to Irish No vote, claims UK minister

Irish voters rejected the EU’s Lisbon Treaty in part because they did not understand it, the UK's minister for Europe Caroline…

Irish voters rejected the EU’s Lisbon Treaty in part because they did not understand it, the UK's minister for Europe Caroline Flint has claimed.

Ms Flint suggested that misunderstandings were fuelled by the campaign for a No vote in last July's referendum.

Voters wrongly believed that the introduction of the Treaty - which replaces the failed EU Constitution - would mean an end to the Republic's abortion ban or require its young people to serve in a European army, she said.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen this week committed himself to holding another referendum on the Lisbon Treaty by next October, following a positive response to Irish concerns at the EU summit which ended on Friday in Brussels.

The summit agreed to Mr Cowen's proposal that all EU member states should retain a commissioner and that legally binding guarantees to protect the Irish position on neutrality, tax and abortion would be drafted in the coming months. 

All but four of the EU's 27 member-states have now ratified the Treaty, and the need to gain Ireland's approval in a referendum is the last significant remaining obstacle to it entering into effect in 2010.

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Opponents of the Treaty claims the democratic decision of Irish voters is being ignored by Brussels.

But Ms Flint today suggested that, while Irish voters’ concerns were “legitimate”, the result in July was determined by misconceptions about the Treaty’s provisions.

She told Sky News' Sunday Live: "There have been a number of studies in Ireland about how people voted and why they voted as they did.

“I visited Dublin about a month ago and met some people who told me directly that people sincerely thought - partly because of the campaign against the Treaty - that they would have their rights in a number of areas taken away, and that wasn’t the case and isn’t the case.

“If there is a way in which we can answer these questions that people had so they can feel reassured and the Irish want to have a second referendum, so be it.”

Mr Cowen explained at the Council about the “very legitimate” concerns that Irish people had - and which persuaded them to vote No - about Brussels determining their law on abortion and other issues, said Ms Flint.

“Part of it was misunderstanding,” she said. “Apparently, one-third of Irish voters in the referendum thought that Irish young men and women would be conscripted into a European Army.

“The question I think we need to look at is how do we reassure them? At the Council they agreed that they would provide some legal guidance and guarantees that the Treaty didn’t affect these areas, and Brian Cowen himself indicated that on that basis he would support a second referendum. That’s their choice that they have made.”

Asked how Europe and the UK Government would respond if the Irish voted No a second time, Ms Flint replied: “If they vote No again, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.”

The director of eurosceptic thinktank Open Europe, Lorraine Mullally, described Ms Flint’s comments as “extremely patronising”.

Ms Mullally said: “The Lisbon Treaty represents a huge transfer of powers away from citizens to the EU - in areas as diverse as justice and home affairs, the economy, and even foreign policy. For Caroline Flint to stand up and say that voters were wrong to feel they would be losing control is extraordinary. Either she has no idea what is in the Treaty, or she is being deliberately misleading."

“In order to by-pass the No vote, EU leaders have come up with a plan to try and fool Irish people into thinking they will be voting for something different next time around. But the sad fact is, that whatever ‘concessions’ they have agreed will change nothing in the Treaty. Any changes at all to the actual text would require all the other member states to re-ratify it, something which EU leaders want to avoid at all costs.

“The Treaty will remain intact, with all that that entails - including a massive loss of power to the EU. This Treaty will mean that ordinary people in Ireland will lose power to impact on decisions that affect their daily lives - as Ireland loses 40% of its power to block legislation it disagrees with.

“It is not for British politicians to casually dismiss legitimate Irish concerns about a loss of power to Brussels. Irish voters have already given their verdict on this text — and that should be the end of it.”