Cóir still have not produced their (much awaited) analysis of the Lisbon Campaign but Niamh (God Bless her) did find time this week to send out a newsletter to ask supporters to lend their support to a rally tomorrow.

We’re asking everyone to make a special effort to attend a Rally in support of Czech president Václav Klaus on Sunday Oct 25 at 1pm. The Rally will be held outside Dáil Éireann, Kildare Street, Dublin 2, and will be addressed by Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill from Cóir, and Professor Anthony Coughlan of the National Platform amongst others.

(Teeny Problem there – Anthony Coughlan (who I had the pleasure of being taught by in TCD) was never a professor but sure accuracy never troubled Cóir during the campaign!)

It looks like President Klaus is getting his way on an optout and may sign the treaty before the end of the year. So there’s a whole lot of praying to be done at the Rally tomorrow.

Dear

Just a quick update to thank you all and to give a few important messages.

• Firstly, from everyone in Cóir, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the magnificent effort you put into making the second battle against Lisbon such a truly inspired campaign. You’ve been a brilliant, wonderful team. God Bless you all. We’ll be sending a full report later this week.
• This is a grubby win for the elite, driven by fear and bullying. In the three days before the vote, the people were subjected to a media onslaught of Yes propaganda threatening ruin and isolation if people voted No.  It was unprecedented and utterly disgusting.
• We succeeded, however, in raising several crucial issues, including, of course, the right to life, and the increased profile given to those issues in Lisbon 1 and 2 will make a big difference to our work going forward.
• In the next five days we need to make sure that every Cóir poster is taken down or we will face VERY stiff fines that we can’t pay!  Can you ensure that EVERY poster you put up is taken down please? If you see a poster which you can’t take down please call us on 01 8746858 and we’ll get onto it.
• We’re looking to have a special Cóir meeting on November 1st and will contact you with further details shortly.

God bless

Niamh

There is a liveblog already established for the count results and we are looking forward to pulling in news from around the country as the tallies come in. Cian posts about how to contact us with information and as usual in Irish blogging/online crowdsourcing and all hands on deck is the way to go.

Thanks in advance for helping out if you are at a count or otherwise following results. If you have contacts outside of Ireland who may be interested in keeping in touch with things you should point them in the direction of the liveblog and also to additional coverage and analysis on Irishelection.com.

I’m voting later today and will be on the look out for Cóirites monitoring the goings on. Watching them watching us eh? We even have a blog for watching the votes go in.

This time I’ve been more incensed by the lies being told by the No side, by the poor campaigns run by the Yes side including the ‘Civil Society’ groups.  (One of the groups which I would exclude from this criticism is Generation Yes who didn’t do a bad job at all with very little money  from my very external viewpoint but more plaudits and pastings of the campaign after Saturday.)  Now I just want it all to be over because it does nothing for anyone.

This is because I feel Lisbon/the Reform Treaty is not really as  important as all this fuss that is be being made of it  – Nice and accession were the important decisions – the fall of the Berlin wall and everything after that has meant that the European Union needs better ways of working.

If you still have a stomach for Lisbon related material Nick McGinley explores many reasons for voting Yes and details lots of the intricacies nobody really understands because they a) can’t be bothered or/and b) have not had them presented to them in a readable manner. 100 Reasons to Vote Yes is probably not for everyone but I’m grateful it pokes fun at some of the stances taken by both sides during Lisbon I whilst explaining why people should vote Yes in Lisbon II.  I won’t hold the fact that Michael O’Leary’s handing out copies deter me from this mention Back to my own fairly uninformed thoughts…

What is being presented in this reform is not perfect, but I wish I was in the position of other EU citizens and let the Government, the commission and the parliament elected get on with things.  My vote for politicians on their European policy should be what counts.   That said the government’s unobserved and un-monitored  cap in hand to Brussels looking for those guarantees infuriates me.  Again the requirement for the Government to legislate for the X case is ignored as some pointless further guarantee is made on a lack of interference by the EU on right to life. (We’ve had that for 17 years already.)

We’re not going to be waging war on anyone or losing our so called neutrality. We have a responsibility, as small as a country we are, to make sure massacres and human rights violations throughout the world don’t go unchecked and that our voice along with other EU members are heard in both peace keeping and peace enforcing.

That as small as a country we are is important to reflect on also.  All this stuff about how a No vote will stop things and get the whole reform process started again.  Absolute rubbish.  The quality of the debate being held in Ireland on EU membership and the future of the Union is an embarrassment. The racism and intolerance that has crept into the opposition arguments is also of great concern.

I despair at the lack of understanding about the European Union and the way it works.  This lack of political education and presentation has allowed the No side gain un-deserved traction for their Chicken Licken arguments.  The parochial nature of Irish Politics is also to blame for this.

The reasons I have some understanding about the European Union maybe is because I have needed it’s institutions to progress in life be it

• the programmes sponsored by the European Social Fund which supported and trained me when for years I could not gain regular employment,
• funding for organisations and programmes that Irish governments would not fund due to discrimination and intolerance,
• equality in terms of pay and social welfare entitlements,
• freedom to travel,
• safety in terms of consumer issues and product standards,
• transport assistance at Airports that is universal in standard and quality so far (it’s fecking amazing what an EU directive has done to my quality of life as a disabled person in getting in and out of this country in the last year. )
• and on and on and on

There are more EU Directives to come that will improve the lives of myself and others – the unemployed, ‘underprivileged’, and coalface workers that Patricia McKenna says are not represented in the Yes side.  I’m a coalface worker voting Yes and I think there lots of us about.  The cuts in services and recession related issues are not the EU’s fault and it’s pure folly to try and link the fears of people affected to Lisbon.  The No side feast on the lack of information and the insularity and fear that many express due to the actions of government and effects of the collapse of the economy?

I won’t go on anymore.  I wish that in future when Treaties are being negotiated and reforms proposed that we have active dialogue and interest. That when the Oireachtas debates EU policy and legislation that those doing the debating are informed participants, the matters are reported in all forms of media and that groups representing those affected are prepared for debate and are consulted.  I’m looking forward to the navel gazing stopping and insularity ending, I doubt it will happen. If as I hope there is a majority Yes vote on Friday I’d rather we don’t close the book but actually learn something about how we are to progress our membership of the European Union in the future.

Tin hat on.

Living in Dublin City Centre it’s not difficult to find Cóir on the ground so I knew I would be able to try to explore it further – whether I got any answers would be another thing!.

So at the GPO yesterday it was not difficult to get a word with Brian T. Hickey a principle spokesman from Cóir.  He said that the canvasser should not have said tha tabout being put down but that it was possible that Euthanasia would be introduced because 2 EU countries have it and the European Court could rule that Ireland should have it too. He scrambled a bit as he introduced what I call the Cóir question mark – it might happen because Cóir say it might even if everyone else says it won’t.  Further questioned Hickey could not speak to the specific parts of the Lisbon Treaty that protect people with disabilities.  I was then approached by another Cóir campaigner who overheard me to say that I was lucky to be alive because the HSE were bringing doctors over to train doctors and nurses here in Euthanasia.  As another Cóir campaigner tried to put a sticker on my mobility scooter I backed away and revved up and took off as fast as I could.

On the basis of this and earlier rubbish about how the Treaty will lock up people with mental health conditions or intellectual disabilities I think we can say that ‘Sarah Palin Death panel‘ politics have arrived in Ireland.  Now I can hear my regular commenter Steve White and others saying already to stop criticising Cóir and talk about the treaty – so I will.  I don’t believe the EU is going to be killing off disabled people anytime soon.

Upon closer examination the Lisbon Treaty is very positive from a disability perspective. Specific references are made in the first article to respect of human dignity, human rights and equality and non-discrimination. Consultation with disabled people becomes enshrined in all processes – participatory democracy means that civil society and representative organisations will be consulted in all aspects of EU action. (Aside – It therefore is very important for organisations of disabled people to ensure that they are consulted rather than solely the organisations for people with disabilities and organisations which exist to provide services for people with disabilities.)

Mainstreaming of all areas of EU policy (Article 10) will include examination of the effects on people with disabilities.  (This exists for gender mainstreaming for some years already.)

In 2007 people with disabilities campaigned to sign 1 million signatures to call for the EU to broaden it’s anti-discrimination legislation and policy remit to specifically name people with disabilities. This campaign has influenced the development of the Citizens Initiative which means that other issues can be campaigned for by citizens (One million signatories) and can lead to the Commission bringing forward legislation if within the scope of the EU.

In the Charter for Fundamental Rights (the one that Cóir fear so much and some on the Yes and No sides say means not a lot and others say it means so much) we see Article 26  – Integration of persons with disabilities

The Union recognises and respects the right of persons with disabilities to benefit from measures designed to ensure their independence, social and occupational integration and participation in the life of the community.

So  there we are empowerment, independence, with an added dose of ‘nothing about us without us’.  Why are Cóir so afraid it? Or Article 25 which protects older peoples rights to participate in society? The reality is that Cóir and other anti treaty groups don’t want protection of the rights of anyone by the European Union and it’s institutions.

I’d be ecstatic if there really was a debate about people with disabilities and the way we are protected or not in Irish society and in the European Union. Instead we continue to be patronised and manipulated and ignored. There is no disability movement to debate or lead calls for change and political parties use the language of oppression and care and cost to control our lives.

The arrival of the politics of the death panel to use disability and fear of being killed because of Lisbon is therefore unsurprising in the void that has been created in denying people with disabilities respect, autonomy and dignity. Something that Cóir would like to wish to continue because fundamentally they are against the rights of the individual in any sphere.

I’ll be back well in time for the final week of the campaign but will miss Pat Kenny’s debut taking to the The Frontline.  (Am sure it’ll be liveblogged!)

In the mean time you may head in these directions for some reading.

Bloggers for Europe is a group blog doing a lot of pro-lisbon blogging.

Alexia Golez may be attending some Lisbonesque events in the next few weeks?

Irish Election Literature Blog – brilliant idea for a blog – where all good (and bad) literature and ephemera goes for our enjoyment

Finally take pity on Cian and the round ups at Irish Election, I won’t be around to pester him with the Lisbon items too good to ignore so send your finds to him -  irishelection@ gmail.com

No I was getting a press release to tell me about the publication of a book by a staff member in a European Parliament and political grouping and current advisor to Pat Cox in the Ireland for Europe campaign.  (I can’t find her name on the Ireland for Europe page on their team though?)

The author is Regina O’Connor who worked for FF MEP’s and their former party grouping UEN and now works for ALDE in the European Parliament. Previously she has worked in the Euopean Commission and also on the Irish Presidency. A qualified solicitor [Qualified - surely they all are?], Regina has written a book on Europe and how it all works. Entitled European Union – The Reasons Why, An Taoiseach has written the foreword.

The Reasons Why was written to address a communications vacuum over many years about the European Union and how it works for the citizens of Europe. The book　gives voters who are looking for the right information on the Lisbon Treaty exactly what they need. This book is a guide of factual information to help inspire the current public debate.　

I then go look at this Youtube and that’s when I start getting worried at the possibility I’m being led up a garden path.

You can read chapters of the book for free until the beginning of October here. There’s a bit on the flight of the Earls, and Red O’Donnell and the like and why the Irish have always been in Europe. The other sample chapter is all about the Treaty and the guarantees.

So there’s an odd URL for the website, a badly produced Youtube, the bookcover for an e-book which is all about the author and the fact that I’ve never heard of her before. Is this a case of the We Belongs? ie. campaign staff rather busy looking for the next job than the campaign they are working on? Or some ingenious ruse by Ganley?  Some new age health guru is behind the PR and he has an article about the book and it’s author (Political Spice?) is in Examiner.com.   It’s the oddest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

(Psst Regina there are loads of people good at online PR out there who can do better Youtbes and promotion, even some search engine optimisation, just shout and I’m sure they’ll come running. )

The leaflet says that Lisbon is ‘Good for Gays’ (Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgendered people disappear again for the sake of alliteration) and makes three points

First

Ireland’s involvement in Europe lead to the decriminialisation of homosexuality. Lisbon will make it illegal to discriminate against someone because of sexual orientation against Europe.

Problem one – It was the European Court of Human Rights which ruled against Ireland in the Norris vs. Ireland case. This court and the Convention of Human Rights are not EU institutions – but are part of the Council of Europe. It was the Council of Europe’s committee of ministers/minister’s representatives which on a six monthly basis following the Norris ruling asked the Irish Government when it was going to decriminalise homosexuality. While the ECHR is now acceded to by the EU it’s a pity other more current events where the EU has been important for LGBT’s were not highlighted. The Treaty does reinforce principles of Equality gained in other treaties and that’s what Lisbon is about – making the other treaties and reforms work.

If Labour LGBT were trying to say queers are safer in a fully functioning EU than outside with Cóir or the neo liberals or indeed a morality police pulling the nations strings why not just say it!

Point two

Equal pay for women was introduced because of Ireland’s involvement with Europe. This treaty will make it illegal to discriminate against someone because of their gender identity across Europe.

No problems there

Point three –

This treaty guarantees the right to assemble, helping to support pride organisations and marches across Europe.

Shh don’t mention Poland’s opt out from the Charter of Fundamental Freedoms, in fact the Polish LGBT movement are concerned at the opt out and the mention of public morality as one of the areas the Polish government want to maintain legislative responsibility for.

There are far stronger reasons why the Lisbon Treaty is good for LGBT’s – the citizens initiatives, developments on freedom of movement, the increased participation of MEP’s in policy making (there is an informal but effective intergroup in the European Parliament on LGBT rights which does positive cross party work). In fact more mention should be made of The Treaties of Amsterdam,. Nice etc and that Lisbon is just making these workable!

There is no doubt that Cóir will be pointing to this leaflet as an example of the fall of Ireland and I look forward to hearing Labour Party spokespeople explaining it further and standing up to the bigots. I hear that some people are saying lgbt’s should vote no because there is no hope of gay marriage being brought into law given the guarantees pertaining to family life sought by the Irish government. Maybe the Yes activists could put that self absorbed and flawed excuse for a reason to vote no in the rubbish pile?