Published: Thursday, 4th December, 2008 12:00am

It?s high time we got our heads around Lisbon debate

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What is the Lisbon Treaty? That`s a good question. And if you`re one of several categories of people, you`ve reached one of a number of different conclusions.

If you plan on voting in favour of the Treaty you`ve either (i) read it from top to bottom, and are convinced that its ratification is a positive step for the country or (ii) you are a member of either Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or Labour, and what`s good for the party is good enough for you.

If you have decided to vote against it, you`ve (i) read it from top to bottom, and were shocked by its contents or (ii) you made up your mind on Europe`s direction after the Maastricht or Nice referenda.

Thirdly, if you are still undecided, then chances are (i) you don`t care, (ii) you don`t have time, (iii) you are confused by its contents or (iv) you haven`t got round to reading it yet. If you`re in the fourth category, with the referendum less than two months away, it`s about time you did.

But of the majority who are undecided about the importance of Lisbon, it would be accurate to assume that they are in categories (ii) and (iii). As it happened with the Nice Treaty vote, a vast number of people are ill-informed, either by those responsible for imparting information about the Treaty, or because understanding the workings of the EU doesn`t factor into their daily lives.

Democracy, or whatever one calls rule by the people, survives on one thing alone: the involvement of a country`s citizens in the political process. At its most basic level, this means that for democracy to survive, people must keep themselves informed, and the institutions of government must keep them informed.

Regardless of where one stands on the Lisbon debate, and partisan loyalties aside, this simply has not happened.

This week, one of the first `No` lobby meetings took place in Mullingar, under the auspices of the People`s Movement.

Without getting into the specifics of the Treaty, one of the most salient points to emerge from the meeting was the fact that after the first Nice Treaty referendum, the Fianna Fáil/PD government removed the power of the Referendum Commission to present both `yes` and `no` arguments in referendum adverts.

The Commission, while not perfect by any means, was effectively castrated, and the majority of a bemused and ill-informed electorate simply stayed at home, while a minority ratified Nice.

This time, the Fianna Fáil/Green government has gone a step further, turning the State information website on Lisbon, www.reformtreaty.ie, into a pro-Treaty mouthpiece. The site, which is run on taxpayers` money, is regularly used as a platform for Ministers Dermot Ahern and Dick Roche to attack critics of the Lisbon document.

Neither of these injustices have been challenged by the Fine Gael, Labour or Green TDs - the three elements of the defunct “Mullingar Accord”. Why? Because Civil War politics aside, there is no fundamental difference between any of these parties on most issues, Europe included.

The net result is that a party political veil has been thrown over the Lisbon debate, in a bid to once again confuse the electorate into delivering not an honest answer, but one which will satisfy the architects of the Treaty in Brussels.

Last summer, Minister Roche said: “I hope that next year`s referendum campaign will be conducted in an atmosphere of factual debate and reasoned argument. We should discuss all aspects of the Treaty with candour and honesty; we must listen and when we have listened answer the questions and concerns that are raised”.

Since then, critics of the treaty have been smeared as “Eurosceptics”, “extremists”, “anti-Europe” and “guilty of misrepresentation”, while the pro-Lisbon lobby pontificates as if they had already made the perceived benefits of the Treaty crystal clear to everybody.

As polls demonstrate the large percentage of “don`t knows”, it`s clear that they haven`t. We`ve heard plenty about “enhanced co-operation” and “improving the functionality of the EU”, but nothing specific. At some point, confusion will turn to apathy and as with Nice in 2002, another European treaty will slip through unnoticed.

In fairness to the “No” lobby, they are prepared to break down the Treaty, and its associated documents, to provide cohesive arguments as to why they are opposed to its ratification.

But just days ago, Justice Minister Brian Lenihan launched another attack on Lisbon`s critics. “While it is acknowledged that Europe has achieved for Ireland, this Treaty is opposed because of the negative direction in which they maintain it will take the Union,” the Minister said.

“They argue there will be a loss of national sovereignty and that we will see the emergence of a `European Super State`. This has all been argued before. The same cries of wolf have been raised in all previous debates on EU Treaties and each time these dire warnings have been proved baseless.”

If this is so, Minister, then prove it. Open up the channels of debate. Prove that Lisbon will not further militarise the European Union. Prove that people`s fears about losing national sovereignty are unfounded. Prove that after ratification, our foreign policy, taxes, wages, prices, immigration rates and agriculture policy will not be dictated by unelected officials in Brussels.

Prove to Ireland`s pro-life majority that our anti-abortion laws will be protected. And if you manage to convince them of all the above, prove to them that all of this can`t be swept aside by the stroke of a bureaucrat`s pen, because of the Treaty`s self-amending nature.

Because until these questions are addressed factually and correctly, no Irish voter will be without suspicion.