Tuesday
Jul082008
SLIGO COUNTY COUNCIL CALLS FOR REFERENDUM DECISION TO BE HONOURED
Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 10:00AM
Sligo County Council has unanimously adopted a motion submitted by Cllr Declan Bree, which calls on the European Union and its member-states to accept the verdict of the Irish people and rejects the calls for a further referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. It was also agreed that the resolution be circulated to all other councils.
Speaking at the Council meeting Cllr Bree said, "In last months Referendum the people of Ireland exercised their right as citizens of a sovereign nation to reject the Lisbon Treaty. The Lisbon Treaty is now dead. The rules are absolutely clear. If all 27 member states do not pass the Lisbon Treaty it does not pass into law.
"However within hours of our referendum result being announced the European elite in Brussels, Berlin and Paris, were insisting that the Treaty is still alive, that the ratification process should continue and that Ireland must vote again.
"Some of these people were the same people that were telling us that the Lisbon Treaty would enhance democracy in the European Union
"The arrogance of the European elite in calling for a re-run of our referendum clearly confirms that they have learned nothing and have no respect for democracy.
"The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, spoke clearly after the result of the referendum was announced when he said ‘the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box is sovereign. The Government accepts and respects the verdict of the Irish people’.
"We must now insist that the European elites accept and respect the will of the Irish people as expressed at the ballot box, just as they accepted the will of the French and Dutch people when they rejected the precursor to the Lisbon Treaty.
"I therefore propose that 'Recognising that the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box is sovereign, and recognising that if all member states of the EU do not ratify the Lisbon Treaty it does not pass into law, and further recognising that the people of Ireland exercised their rights as citizens to reject the Lisbon Treaty, this Council rejects the calls from Europe to re-run the Lisbon Treaty referendum, and we call on the EU Commission, the EU Council of Ministers, the EU Parliament and the authorities in the other EU states to accept and respect the verdict of the Irish people, as they accepted the will of the French and Dutch people following their decision to reject the EU Constitution.' Cllr Bree's motion was seconded by Cllr Sean MacManus of Sinn Fein and was unanimously adopted by the Council.
Speaking at the Council meeting Cllr Bree said, "In last months Referendum the people of Ireland exercised their right as citizens of a sovereign nation to reject the Lisbon Treaty. The Lisbon Treaty is now dead. The rules are absolutely clear. If all 27 member states do not pass the Lisbon Treaty it does not pass into law.
"However within hours of our referendum result being announced the European elite in Brussels, Berlin and Paris, were insisting that the Treaty is still alive, that the ratification process should continue and that Ireland must vote again.
"Some of these people were the same people that were telling us that the Lisbon Treaty would enhance democracy in the European Union
"The arrogance of the European elite in calling for a re-run of our referendum clearly confirms that they have learned nothing and have no respect for democracy.
"The Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, spoke clearly after the result of the referendum was announced when he said ‘the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box is sovereign. The Government accepts and respects the verdict of the Irish people’.
"We must now insist that the European elites accept and respect the will of the Irish people as expressed at the ballot box, just as they accepted the will of the French and Dutch people when they rejected the precursor to the Lisbon Treaty.
"I therefore propose that 'Recognising that the will of the people as expressed at the ballot box is sovereign, and recognising that if all member states of the EU do not ratify the Lisbon Treaty it does not pass into law, and further recognising that the people of Ireland exercised their rights as citizens to reject the Lisbon Treaty, this Council rejects the calls from Europe to re-run the Lisbon Treaty referendum, and we call on the EU Commission, the EU Council of Ministers, the EU Parliament and the authorities in the other EU states to accept and respect the verdict of the Irish people, as they accepted the will of the French and Dutch people following their decision to reject the EU Constitution.' Cllr Bree's motion was seconded by Cllr Sean MacManus of Sinn Fein and was unanimously adopted by the Council.
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