Posted online: Mar 6th, 2008

By Dermot Keys
dermot@letterkennypost.com

Tuesday night’s LYIT Law Society debate on the Lisbon Treaty was notable for the admission by Donegal’s newest county councillor that he was having difficulty canvassing for a yes vote.
“I’m finding it very difficult to campaign for a yes vote on the basis of what I’ve heard tonight,” said Fianna Fail’s Cllr Joe Kelly, from Falcarragh, to a round of applause from the largely pro-no audience.
“It’s clear from the arguments who has won. I’m being asked to canvas for a yes vote and I’m bankrupt for answers to people’s questions. That’s the reality of it.”
Addressing Fine Gael TD, Deputy Joe McHugh, he said they were both in a “sticky situation” by asking for a yes vote even though “it appears to me that the people of Donegal are going to say no.”
Speaking to the Letterkenny Post, he stressed that he was fully supporting his party’s pro-Treaty stance but added that there were questions about morality, European enlargement, Ireland’s power base in the new Europe, and the future status of our constitution.
“As a public representative, I have to represent what I hear. What I hear at the moment is very worrying and I do not at the moment have any answers for the questions that people are asking. That’s what I’m raising.”
Speakers on the night for the yes vote were Deputy Joe McHugh, barrister of law Patsy Gallagher and, in the place of the absent Senator Cecelia Keavaney, Damien Crawford. The no side were represented by former Green Party MEP, Patricia McKenna, Sinn Fein Cllr Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and solicitor Joe Noonan, whose work on the Raymond Crotty case helped secure the current referendum.
Issues raised included Ireland’s neutrality, whether the Treaty would bring an increased militarization, the need for greater co-ordination between EU states, and the benefits that Ireland had got from Europe.
Other questions debated were whether the Treaty would diminish or increase Ireland’s influence in Europe, whether it was any different to the European Constitution, and the various pros and cons of the proposed Treaty.
The motion to support the Lisbon Treaty was defeated on the night.