COMMENT:Fine Gael is supporting the Lisbon Treaty because referendum defeat would only damage Ireland and its people, writes Lucinda Creighton
MANY PEOPLE have wondered aloud why Fine Gael is enthusiastically supporting a Yes vote for the EU reform treaty and indeed why the largest opposition party is planning an expansive, energetic campaign in support of the treaty. After all, wasn't this treaty negotiated by the Government? And wouldn't it mean a severe blow to the Taoiseach and his Ministers if it were defeated? Is the Opposition missing an opportunity to embarrass the Government?
In reality a defeat for the Yes side in this referendum campaign would not so much damage the Government parties as it would harm our country and the people of Ireland. A short-term embarrassment for the Government would seriously damage this country's health in the long term.
From Fine Gael's point of view, the national interest must be prioritised above myopic, short-term political gain. Therefore, as a party we shall be doing the right thing for Ireland, by saying Yes to the reform treaty.
In 1972 Fine Gael campaigned enthusiastically in favour of Ireland's accession to the then European Economic Community.
At the time we were bombarded by doomsday scenarios by the No side. They claimed we would have our sovereignty negated, that we would become subsumed into a giant European super-state and that the children of Ireland would be conscripted to a massive warmongering army.
The "anti" campaigners never referred to the huge export markets that would open up to us, nor to the confidence and self-sufficiency we would develop as a nation, no longer economically dependent on the United Kingdom.
They never mentioned how the union would enhance equality and workers' rights, while strengthening competition and ending monopolies. They never acknowledged the peace and prosperity that would come from our membership of the EU. Fine Gael did and we still do.
The European Union has reached a new juncture in its development, a new phase, involving new challenges. Critically, this treaty aims at preparing the EU for the new global challenges facing us, challenges such as world poverty, energy security, peacekeeping, and global warming.
Under the terms of this treaty we have the chance to work on a European level to tackle these challenges together. On our own, as a small island state, we have little chance. A union of 490 million people working together can have far greater impact than a small nation of four million working on its own.
Fine Gael is campaigning for a Yes vote because we believe that it offers the best possible deal for Ireland and for Europe. There is no blank page on which we can draw up a new European Union.
Rather there is an opportunity to enhance and improve the EU on the basis of the negotiations that have taken five years to conclude.
This is a good treaty for small states such as ours. The treaty offers solutions to problems that have been associated with the EU until now - issues such as a lack of democracy, a sense of disconnection from the citizens, and a large amount of bureaucracy.
It tackles these problems, and in the process puts in place the means for the EU institutions to function for a union of 27 member states, 12 more members than just four years ago.
This treaty will strengthen national parliaments, such as Dáil Éireann; it will enhance the role of Members of the European Parliaments - the directly-elected representatives of us, the people of Europe; it will limit the size of European institutions such as the commission to avoid institutional paralysis, and it will create a new figurehead for Europe - the European president.
These changes are good for Europe, and in particular, good for Ireland.
Our past successes in Europe, however impressive, are not reason enough to vote Yes to this treaty. Our future influence and clout in an increasingly globalised word are even more crucial and more relevant.
Looking at the opportunities that this treaty presents for Ireland, it would take a very blinkered view to believe that a No vote could possibly be in our collective interest. With this treaty, the new High Representative for Foreign Affairs can, for the first time, present a coherent EU position on the global stage. Furthermore, the reform treaty will enhance Ireland's peacekeeping role.
Ireland has participated in a number of UN/EU peacekeeping missions, such as that in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Lisbon Treaty extends the EU's ability to carry out conflict prevention missions and post-conflict missions. Thus, Ireland's role in important missions in conflict regions can be enhanced, while preserving our traditional stance of being militarily unaligned.
We in Fine Gael could take the politically opportunistic avenue and oppose this treaty. However, we realise that the reasons to vote Yes are compelling. We wish to see Ireland play a strong role in an increasingly globalised world, influencing, not submitting to, our partners in the United States and elsewhere.
Therefore we are committed to a Yes vote, in the national interest. We shall resist the temptation to oppose the Government on this crucial treaty because: "to know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice".
...
Lucinda Creighton is Fine Gael TD for Dublin South-East and her party's spokeswoman on European Affairs