Lisbon - Who's Paying the Bill?

There was a bit of a stir in the press about the 'Ireland in Europe' stunt outside the office of the referendum commission. Pat Cox and Bridget Laffan stood on the steps holding up big red and yellow cards (as in football, geddit?) signifying that "lies" would not be accepted this time around in the push to get the Lisbon Treaty passed.

The Irish Taxpayer has no brief for either side on this question. Our main gripe is why, after spending millions on the first referendum campaign that, by all accounts, was properly run in all respects, we are now spending millions on a second campaign?

Clearly, the No vote first time around was deeply distressing to the powers that be. Yet we were all assured before that vote was taken that a rejection of the treaty would be accepted by the EU, who would simply move forward under the provisions of the Nice Treaty, or go away and have a serious rethink about Lisbon. But no: little old Ireland was told not to be so silly and to go away and do it all over again.

This is deeply worrying for those of us who are supportive of the European project and appreciate the harmony European integration has brought to a continent that almost consumed itself in conflict. Nevertheless, the democracy and unanimity that the EU prided itself on in the past now seems to be little more than a distant memory, if the peremptory instructions to our 'leaders' to "do it all over again until they get the right result" are anything to go by.

The sad thing about this is that the Lisbon Treaty is probably harmless enough in itself. The trouble is that European insiders like Pat Cox are so embedded in the bureaucracy of the EU that they cannot see the real unease that exists across the continent at the runaway centralising tendency represented by this string of treaties. Clearly, the original intent of "father of Europe," Jean Monnet, to win support for the project through prosperity, has been taken to heart by those members of the elite who have done, and are doing, very well out of Europe: none more so than Mr Cox, who started out as an occasional reporter on Primetime's forerunner on RTE back in the eighties and, thanks entirely to the EEC as then was, ended up as President of the European Parliament, or some such fabulously paid sinecure. Is it any wonder the poor hack's head would be turned?

Standing on the steps of the referendum commission (curious, seeing as they are supposed to be impartial) accusing opponents of telling lies, doesn't get Cox & Co' off the sticky wicket of explaining why the interests of the Irish taxpayer mattered so little to them, that they were happy to make us pay all over again for a referendum that clearly determined the will of the people first time around. And don't forget, exactly the same thing happened when the Nice Treaty was rejected by the Irish, and yes, we got stuck with paying the bill twice for that one as well.

If Pat Cox and his fellow card carriers want to stamp out lying in this campaign, they could do worse than start answering some questions about whose interests they are really representing: ours, or theirs?