Main parties in Ireland hope to keep ‘other issues’ out of referendum debate

Ireland’s main government party and the largest opposition party are hoping that questions concerning the prime minister’s personal finances will not influence the electorate when it votes on the Lisbon treaty.

Ireland’s Minister for Europe, Dick Roche, who met the European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering in Brussels on Monday (28 January) said that "other issues" always came up at referenda and elections but that it was important to "stick to the facts".

"We will put Ireland’s interests first. Politics and partisan politics and other considerations will be put second," said Roche.

Bertie Ahern, the prime minister or taoiseach, is facing continued questioning over his personal finances and money he received from businessmen in the 1990s. He has been brought before a tribunal investigating corruption twice and faces a third interrogation in February.

Enda Kenny, leader of the opposition party Fine Gael, visited the Parliament in Brussels last Thursday (24 January) and said that he would call on his supporters to put aside their differences and vote for the treaty.

"Local or national concerns? For the taoiseach or against him? This is not a referendum on him, it is a referendum on our children’s future," he said after meeting Wilfried Martens, president of the European People’s Party, and before meeting Commission President José Manuel Barroso.

Opposition parties believe that Ahern’s difficulties are complicating the setting of a date for the referendum and that the government might choose to hold the vote after the summer if there was a danger that it could influence the electorate.

But the opposition is keen to see a date for the referendum, the only one in the EU on the treaty, set soon. "I do think the longer it goes on without a date being named, the longer that misinformation and confusion is there…my personal preference is before the summer," Kenny said.

Roche said that it would be "a few weeks before we know" a date since the draft legislation had to go before the government cabinet first and then opposition leaders had to be consulted.

An Irish Times opinion poll published on Saturday (26 January) showed 64% said they did not know which way they would vote, with 26% saying they would vote ‘Yes’ and 10% voting ‘No’. A Sunday Business Post poll the following day showed 31% did not know, while 45% would vote ‘Yes’ and 25% ‘No’.

Ireland’s main government party and the largest opposition party are hoping that questions concerning the prime minister’s personal finances will not influence the electorate when it votes on the Lisbon treaty.