Brian Cowen hasn’t read the Lisbon Treaty! OK, that’s a little harsh, but did say he hasn’t read it cover to cover while insisting he does know what’s in it.

You can hear the full interview here.

I for one am very disappointed to hear out new Taoiseach say he hasn’t read the treaty in full when he has made getting it passed his number one priority. I listened to the full interview and am still none the wiser about the treaty. All i heard from Cowen was the same old “political repercussions.” It’ll take more than vague threats to make me vote yes. Where’s the explanation of what the treaty is about Mr. Cowen? Where’s the consideration of the consequences of getting the treaty wrong? For us and for the EU!

Taking an “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” approach I am waiting to hear what in the EU is broke and how we need to fix it before I would even consider voting yes. I haven’t read it but I know the EU won’t be happy if we don’t pass it doesn’t convince me I’m afraid.

Lisbon eh… what’s that all about.

There is nothing sexy about the Lisbon Treaty, there is no great gain for the man on the street… Depending who you speak to voting yes to the Lisbon treaty will create an EU superstate, introduce abortion to Ireland, give the EU total control over our laws and taxes, create an EU army which we will all be conscripted into and will place a cap of one child per family!

I’m all for free speech and debate… but it helps if both sides are at least prepared to stick to something resembling the truth.

My sister told me she is voting no becuase what she read on the Libertas website-

“The Government’s referendum bill makes it completely clear that after Lisbon, the EU will have the final say over nearly all major issues of importance to the Irish people.”

If thats not scare moungering I don’t know what is! The Lisbon Treaty specifies that the constitution of every member state is the over riding document in that country… nothing the EU does can over ride that!

The Lisbon Treaty is designed to reorganise how the EU goes about its business. It changes the way in which decisions and laws are made and how they are implemented. It is required because the institutions which ran a 15 state EU are not sustainable for a 27 state EU.

This treaty is not anti democracy as some would have you believe… It is anti bureauracy. It is designed to make Europe a better place to live for its citizen and to give Europe a stronger voice on the world stage hopefully preventing the type of unilateral actions by a US administration that have defined the international stage over the last decade.

This Treaty will:

- Strengthen the EU’s capacity to bring greater economic prosperity, which we have shared and will continue to share.
- Equip the EU to better deal with global warming; energy security and cross border crime, because we cannot do this on our own.
- Limit the size of the European Parliament and the European Commission so that we have less bureaucracy and more efficiency.
- Create a new EU Foreign Affairs Representative who will give us a stronger voice on the world stage, in the UN and dealing with developing countries needs. As China and other regions organise it is important we are not left behind.
- Make the Charter on Fundamental Rights legally binding on EU Institutions and Member States when implementing EU Law, thereby safeguarding the rights of Irish citizens.
- By extending the powers of our MEPs and strengthening the role of Dáil & Seanad Éireann, make Europe more accountable.
- Ensure that the EU exercises those responsibilities - but only those responsibilities - that can be carried out more effectively by commonly agreed policies than by Member States acting separately.

For those who want more info on the treaty I would suggest:-

www.Libertas.org  www.no2lisbon.ie

http://www.europarl.ie/lisbontreaty_meps.html?gclid=CNuc2oeP1pICFQd3MAodRnDm6g

http://www.finegael.ie/treatyoflisbon/index.htm

Corks fifth Lifelong Learning Festival is now underway - follow the link to download PDF’s of what’s on each day.

The 5th Cork Lifelong Learning Festival takes place from Monday April 7 to Sunday April 13, 2008. [...]
Colourful free festival programmes will be available in mid-March from this site as well as libraries, shops and all the organisations involved. In the run up to festival week and during it there is an information kiosk on St Patrick’s Street.

Irish Left Review went live a while back and I didn’t have a chance to blog about it… I still haven’t had a chance to read most of the content, anyone out there read it? Care to comment?

Anyway the Irish Left Review states

The magazine was brought about by a number of Irish Left wing bloggers, who felt a long-running frustration that Ireland lacks the kind of social democratic politics that is well represented in other European countries… It is geared towards a broad left - those who want to make Left politics work and to increase the over all vote for the left, so that political alliances can be formed and significant policies implemented.

So if you’re anyway Left leaning, go check it out.

I don’t watch much TV, but sometimes I have a flick around and see what’s on and every now and then I catch the Daily Show, with Jon Stewart. There’s a section on the show called torture talk which is pure genius.

Here’s some clips from the excellent Daily Show website.