Honest and Open Debate On Lisbon Called For
Deputy Jan O Sullivan (Labour Party) commenting on the recent NO posters has stated that posters erected around the City claiming that a ‘Yes’ to Lisbon will reduce the minimum wage to €1.84 are ‘absolute nonsense and totally misleading.
Calling for an honest debate on the upcoming Lisbon Treaty Deputy O’Sullivan accused the No side of stirring up fears and causing great anxiety and stress for very vulnerable people.
‘I met a woman when I was campaigning in Limerick last Saturday morning who told me that she was concerned and fearful that her autistic son would be taken from her if there was a yes vote. She had read this in a leaflet which she showed me.”
Deputy O Sullivan is urging “all those involved in the Lisbon referendum to engage in an honest debate with each other and for those organisations involved in spreading misleading information to desist from doing so.”
I would agree with Deputy O Sullivan that an open and honest debate is needed. But I would go further than that. There should be an end to the posters and the myriad of flyers pushed through our letter boxes concerning political issues. There is enough ways for honest openly debated issues to be presented in the media without scare mongering and “he said she said” politics. Before you make a claim like the €1.84 you should be held to scrutiny by your peers. Today it is too easy for politicians and would be politicians to hit print and send and distribute a message to John Q Public.
We are in a race to the bottom and sometimes the more scarier the message the more appealing it seems to some political groups.