Fianna Fail today launched its campaign for a Yes vote for the Nice Treaty by asking voters to keep concerns over deteriorating Government finances and evidence of corrupt planning procedures proven by the Flood report separate from the issues at stake in the referendum.
The Taoiseach said Nice should be kept separate from issues faced by the Government in the past week, including publication of the Flood report on planning corruption.
And at the launch, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said it would be a "mistake" to use the referendum to protest about other matters. Ratification of the Nice Treaty on October 19th would allow a number of former communist states and other non-members to join the EU.
The treaty cannot technically be ratified until Ireland vote's to change its constitution. Mr Ahern said the campaign was not launched from a party political point of view, and stressed the benefits ratification of the treaty would have for Ireland's future.
"We believe that the treaty is a good deal for Ireland," he said. "Now in this campaign we say to the Irish people that we should join every other member state of the European Union and ratify the treaty."
He stressed that ratification would not affect Ireland's status of military neutrality - this was regarded as a key element that led to defeat in the last vote.
"This referendum is not just about Nice," he said. "It is also about further safeguarding our tradition of neutrality. We the people will be asked to put into our constitution an entirely new protection to safeguard our neutrality.
"Across Eastern Europe people are awaiting our decision. They want to achieve in their own country what we have achieved for ourselves in Ireland. "They want to share our experience and repeat the Irish success story."
Mr Cowen appealed to voters to make their decision on the basis of the Nice Treaty itself. He said: "Some say they should use the vote on the Nice Treaty to send a message about other matters. Some may be tempted to do so. This would be a mistake.
"We all understand the concerns which presently exist about the economic situation in our country. We understand the outrage and anger which has greeted the publication of the Flood Tribunal's interim report.
"But these are issues which must be addressed in their own turns and on their own merits. They should be kept quite separate from the Treaty of Nice."
PA