MINISTER OF State Pat the Cope Gallagher last night urged a Yes vote on the basis that it would ensure the continuation of "a peaceful Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals".
He was speaking at the National Forum on Europe's regional meeting in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, where he accused Sinn Féin of "peddling myths about the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty".
He said they had been proven wrong on every occasion that they had fought against a European treaty on the basis that it would lead to greater involvement in Nato.
He argued that Irish neutrality was "stronger now than it has ever been" and that there is "no question of it changing in any way".
In his remarks he also highlighted the importance of Ireland retaining control of taxation, saying that other countries "can harmonise down to our levels".
Cllr Pádraig MacLochlainn, national director of Sinn Féin's referendum campaign, disagreed with Mr Gallagher's assertion that a No vote would send out the message that Ireland is moving away from Europe.
He urged voters not to be distracted by talk about implications.
He described as "nonsense" the argument that 27 commissioners was too many for 500 million people when Ireland had 27 Ministers for a population of some four million. Under Lisbon, the State would assume a role similar to New Hampshire in the US as part of a United States of Europe, he said.
A number of speakers from the audience raised concerns about what implications the Lisbon Treaty would have for abortion in Ireland.
Some 150 attended the meeting, where a video was shown for the first time since the initial regional meeting at Blanchardstown on February 5th.
On that occasion the forum's video was withdrawn following complaints of a lack of balance.
The new presentation sets out the role of the forum and highlights the issues raised in the treaty.