EU forum in sligo

Rossibaby

did anyone attend theEU forum on the lisbon treaty in the glasshouse hotel last night...declan bree and marian harkin were the speakers.i was at it and found it very good

it seems like a lot of people know little to nothing about thsi treaty,what do people think?

guinnessdrinker

I intended to go but unfortunatly I was unable to attend. What was the turnout like? And what was Declan Bree's main thoughts about it?

il gatto

Didn't hear about it. I have time for both of those speakers, but I'll do my own research. I don't like having my vote swayed before I know what I'm voting for (or against).

tuppence

Fraid I didnt know it was on. Would have loved to go if I had known. Is it just Sinn fein so far coming out against it? Imo I wish there was more out there on it, apparently the document itself is an excruciatingly painful read. I much prefer a good debate forum.

Rossibaby

tuppence wrote: »

Fraid I didnt know it was on. Would have loved to go if I had known. Is it just Sinn fein so far coming out against it? Imo I wish there was more out there on it, apparently the document itself is an excruciatingly painful read. I much prefer a good debate forum.

nah not only sinn fein,the parties more associated with the north,the IRSP and 32csm are against it aswell as many independents

yes as ppl have said,the two speakers are very well respected and imo declan put great points forward and i spoke to him afterwards about it...i'll be voting no personally.

there was a good turnout alright,pretty decent for something that wasnt greatly advertised

monkeyfudge

I do the podcasts for the forum. I should have a recording of it up early next week.

guinnessdrinker

Some other left wing parties like the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers Party are against it too. As are many members of the Green Party, in fact, former Green Party MEP, Patricia McKenna is campaigning for a No vote I believe.

It's true though Tuppence, it is not the easiest of reading though. There are consolidated versions of the treaty available but there is still a lot of reading involved in it.

I have read into it a bit but I'm still undecided on which way I will vote.

Rossibaby

its a bunch of amendments so therefore terribly hard to read.its funny,left wing parties and right wing parties accross europe would have inclinations toward a no vote...i thought the greens were for it guiness,but perhaps it is individuals who have voiced their concerns and not the party as a whole.money fudge were you at the sligo one??

monkeyfudge

I tend only to attend the ones in Dublin. They record all the debates and send them to me on CD.

Some of the debates certainly do get very heated and I must admit I'm pretty undecided myself too.

Here's the link:

http://forumoneuropepodcast.org/

Rossibaby

the sligo one was very strict...members of the crowd asked questions...harkin addressed them while bree stayed completely silent and vice versa

guinnessdrinker

No Rossi, what happened with the Greens was that they needed two third majority vote to make their support of the treaty offical. But they didnt get the two thirds required, so their members can campaign for either a yes or no vote to Lisbon.

This article will probably explain it better than I just did.

Rossibaby

thank you guinness.i belive fine gael are holding a 'yes' to lisbon meeting in the sligo park on monday...i find these poor as when discussing items like this it should be 2 sides argueing

TequilaMockingBird

monkeyfudge wrote: »

I do the podcasts for the forum. I should have a recording of it up early next week.

Thats would be great, I didn't know it was on either. If you think of it, could you post a link to the podcast here for us?

monkeyfudge

The link to the podcast is here for those that missed the meeting.

http://www.forumoneuropepodcast.org/index.php?id=53

tuppence

Thanks a million for that monkeyfudge. Thats a real useful resource. Looking forward to seating down and listening to it soon.
Tuppence

guinnessdrinker

Nice one Monkeyfudge, gonna have a listen later on.

starbelgrade

Rossibaby wrote: »

did anyone attend theEU forum on the lisbon treaty in the glasshouse hotel last night...declan bree and marian harkin were the speakers.i was at it and found it very good

it seems like a lot of people know little to nothing about thsi treaty,what do people think?

A lot of people know very little about politics full stop - let alone what's going on in Europe. I can see people voting "yes" simply because the government will tell them too - same way they voted them back in for the last election - same way they act like sheep... (eg., "invest in Telecom - you'll make a packet"... yeah, right).

If we ratify this treaty, Ireland will effectively become a province of Europe... calling it a "treaty" is just putting a spin on what is essentially a European Constitution which would overrule the Constitution of Ireland - a Constitution that's been almost sacrosanct for nearly 100 years.

It would also mean that we would no longer be able to consider ourselves neutral when it comes to war and worst of all, the set-up of the commisioners would be one of the most undemocratic systems Europe has ever seen. If anyone votes "yes" to this Treaty, they seriously need their heads examined.

And those with invested interests such as Marian Harkin should be treated with great caution. As with any other "Treaty" / Constitution vote, a "no" vote would not be the end of the world, but a chance to evaluate / re-evaluate what's on the table. I guarantee there'll be little or no proper information dealt out by the government on the issue & only those who make an effort to inform themselves will know what the issues are. For that reason alone, I'd vote no - I mean, would you agree to do anything if you didn't know what you were being asked to do?

TequilaMockingBird

Appreciate it Monkeyfudge.


Dammit I was going to vote no, but if Starbelgrade is voting no, I'm immediately suspicious! :D

I'll be listening later on too, see y'all then for the row.

monkeyfudge

No problem.

I'm glad people find it useful. It's certainly a lot of work getting them all up.

I'm busy at the moment putting up the big plenary from yesterday that was in Westin Hotel.

muffler

Much appreciated monkeyfudge. Cheers.

tuppence

So does that mean that no one is going out tonight and we are all sitting in listening to a debate on the Lisbon treaty!? :eek::D:p:D
(How is that going to sound when we say it on Monday when folk ask what did you get up to to over the weekend? Oh I stayed in on Friday night and studied up on the Lisbon treaty :eek:)

Okay then whens the "debate on the debate" start? Its not going to tie with the "Late Late Show" is it? Oh Doh! :D