Article by Pat the Cope Gallagher MEP.



Our national interests are protected under the Lisbon Treaty.



At the time of the last Lisbon Treaty referendum, many Irish people expressed a number of concerns and they have sought clarity about some key different issues.

The Irish Government has sought to effectively address these concerns in a structured and determined manner.

It firstly commissioned a study into Irish attitudes to the European Union. This study was carried out by the polling company Millward Brown and it showed that 70% of the Irish people were very supportive of our membership of the European Union.

Last summer, the Oireachtas set up a committee to look into Ireland’s future relationship in Europe. This committee received over 90 different comprehensive submissions from organisations from the social, business, employer and farming groups.


At a meeting of EU leaders last December, agreement was reached that if the Lisbon Treaty was ratified that all member states of the EU, including Ireland, would have the right to appoint one member to the European Commission at all times into the future. The European Commission is a very important body because it controls the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Transport Policy, EU Competition Policy and EU Fisheries Policy.


Only last June agreement was reached in Europe that the Lisbon Treaty will not affect Irish neutrality and it will not affect the provisions in the Irish constitution relating to right to life issues. Taxation maters will also be decided by Ireland alone.


These legal guarantees will be turned into protocols at the time of the next EU accession treaty. This will either be at the time Croatia or Iceland conclude their accession talks with the EU. A protocol has the exact same legal affect as provisions contained within the Lisbon Treaty. Moreover, if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, this treaty together with the legal guarantees will be deposited with the United Nations under article 102 of the UN Charter.


This treaty , in many ways, is a house keeping exercise. It reforms how the EU institutions will carry out their business into the future.

New powers are given to the EU institutions in the areas of climate change, energy, organised crime and fisheries. The European Parliament, now, for the first time will a key role to play in the review of the Common Fisheries Policy which will be carried out over the next few years.



The EU is playing a key role in helping Ireland pull through economic recession. Ireland is a net beneficiary of EU funding to the level of 450 million Euro this year alone. Since January 2007, Ireland has received over 100 million Euro to ensure that we remain competitive as new technologies come on stream. The EU has also been the largest contributor to the International Fund for Ireland and it is supporting economic development in the border county region under the Peace 111 and the Interreg 111 programmes.



Ireland is an exporting country.

One of the ways that we will get out of economic recession is by ensuring that we will increase our levels of exports into the other 26 member states of the EU. Two out of every three jobs in Ireland depends on our export production base in Ireland.



The right way forward for Ireland, from an economic viewpoint, is to vote Yes for the Lisbon Treaty on October 2nd next.



ENDS.