Lisbon 2 - how will you vote?

[petervalhala]

As long as Brian Cowen is Taoiseach and Fianna Fail in government, like many poeple, I will vote No in protest.

Our problems lie mainly in Ireland due to a certain corrupt political party being in power the last 12 years. The sooner Cowen and co. are out of office the sooner we can get the economy back on track again, as he has been useless at running the country.

I think just as many people used the last vote as a protest against FF, many will also use the next one as a protest against FF.

I would urge many people to threathen to vote No unless Cowen resigns, unless there is a stop put to the mistakes that are (a) bailling out Anglo and (b) setting up NAMA and until people like Sean Fitzpatrick are occupying a 10 x 6 cell in Mountjoy.

Until those issues are resolved I will be voting No and I call on others to do the same.

The people voting Yes to Lisbon is what corrupt FF want because it gives them an air of legitimacy in Europe.

So, vote No to corrupt elites, in Ireland and elsewhere.

What wonderful 'logic'!

Because YOU disagree with the policies of a democratically elected party, you decide to vote in way to damage your own country.

The main opposition parties also support the passing of Lisbon and have agreed to set aside party politics for the good of the nation.

Lisbon has nothing to do with how good, or otherwise, you view the current Government's performance; that's why we have General Elections.

[FutureTaoiseach]

It's important for the no side to liase with the hospital action and other groups to get them to call for a no vote again in protest over their issues. Was a great help last time.

[anewbeginning]

What wonderful 'logic'!

Because YOU disagree with the policies of a democratically elected party, you decide to vote in way to damage your own country.

The main opposition parties also support the passing of Lisbon and have agreed to set aside party politics for the good of the nation.

Lisbon has nothing to do with how good, or otherwise, you view the current Government's performance; that's why we have General Elections.

The main opposition parties like FF have a vested interest in keeping the gravy train in Europe going, they are not impartial.

Give me impartial voices who can present the facts impartially and I will listen, not people from the main political parties.

The fact is I trust the prominant people on the No side more than I trust those on the Yes side. FF have lost the people's trust, there is a trust issue there and they are not a moral authority on any issue. I wouldn't trust a FFer to mind my car keys without expecting to come back and find my car is for sale.

FF have sold us out so many times in the past, we expect them to sell us out everytime. The Irish people have been fooled so many times by FF, that they are finally waking up to this. And everything FF says these days, threats etc is taken with a pinch of salt.

And as I say, getting that incompetent Cowen out of office would do us a far better service than voting Yes to Lisbon, as voting Yes or No will have little impact on our unemployment queue.

Voting Yes may just buy us time with the ECB so FF can borrow tens more billions to bail out Anglo and set up NAMA. That's the only reason I see them curring favour in Brussels. So we need to put a stop to those FF idiots immediately.

[Limerick Lad]

It's important for the no side to liaise with the hospital action and other groups to get them to call for a no vote again in protest over their issues. Was a great help last time.

So finally after your many denials on this and other threads you're admitting that there was quite a sizable anti-Government rather than anti-Lisbon Treaty vote in the last referendum.

[Dunlin3]

anewbeginning, to vote no to give the government a kick is pathetic. You had a chance to do that a couple of weeks ago and you'll get another chance to do that at the next general election.

Vote on the issues and if you decide no based on those then fair enough. Otherwise grow up!

[petervalhala]

Just to summarise;

I will vote Yes if Cowen quits before the vote, I will vote No if he stays on.

So you are holding the County to ransom? Do as I say, otherwise I'll harm all of you.

He was given a strong message from the people on June 5th to resign, a very strong message and 90% of the people no longer believe his government are doing a good job.

Yet he persists in going against the will of the people and staying in office.

We had LOCAL and European elections, the Government has a mandate from the 2007 general election and according to the constitution this runs to 2012.

BTW FF got approx 25% of the vote, Greens got 5%, if we ignore the independents and just add 25 and 5 together, and subtract from 100 we get 70%, not 90%. Failing at basic maths really doesn't help your argument...

Hence I feel, the next Lisbon Vote will represent another chance for the people to make their feelings known on Cowen.

No it gives the people a chance to decide on Ireland's place within Europe.

When they voted against the government on June 5th, they weren't voting because of 'tough' FF decisions, they voted that way because of disastrous FF mismanagement, corruption and decisions.

Wrong, people voted because they didn't like, or didn't understand the difficult, but neccessary measures needed to carry this country through the worst world recession in a century.

The people clearly have had enough of FF and I think the next Lisbon vote should be used as a referendum on Cowen. I know that is probably the wrong thing to do, but unforunately as a people we have to send another message to Cowen that he must for the good of the country resign, that he has made a b*lls of the country and for the sake of future generations he needs to go no later than this year.

That's merely your opinion, and is devoid of any evidence. An alternative opinion is that the country would be ten times worse if FG/Lab had been in power.

On principle I will vote No to any campaign lead by Brian Cowen, that's just the way it has to be. The man has always in his career put the interests of the rich and elite before the interests of the people. It's no different with Lisbon, it was no different with Anglo, and it's no different on other issues.

Quiet the reverse, his actions have been in the best interests of the country, he could have instead decided on populist decisions what would destroy this country, or cut and run and let the inept Kenny take control, also resulting in the destruction of this country.

Even though we have very little power as a country at the moment over our immigration policies, our interest rate policies, our money printing and devaluation policies, we will have even less powers if Lisbon goes through and more power will be centralised in Europe. More power centralised in Europe is not good for Ireland because it means our influence over decisions that affect Ireland is even less. I don't want Fritz the communist from Bavaria, or Pierre the mad Green from Province telling us what we should do in Ireland or how we should run our country.

Completely false, we in fact increase our influence if Lisbon goes thru.

[edifice.]

anewbeginning, to vote no to give the government a kick is pathetic. You had a chance to do that a couple of weeks ago and you'll get another chance to do that at the next general election.

Vote on the issues and if you decide no based on those then fair enough. Otherwise grow up!

That's ****************************************. Why should we trust a government to enforce the terms of a treaty when they broke spineless in front of the banks? That is the issue.

[anewbeginning]

The threat of a No vote was enough to force Ahern out, thankfully.

I hope the threat of a No vote will be enough to force Cowen out too.

The man has just handed 4 billion over to Anglo Irish Bank as a reward for corrupt banking practises and feathering the nests of FF developers.

Yet he doesn't have one cent to help find jobs for the unemployed, he is not renewing nurses contracts, or special needs teachers contracts and has provided a paltry 50 million as a jobs fund to the smes.

Billions for the bankers and developers, nothing to help nurses, teachers, and the unemployed back to work.

As a patriot, I feel it's my duty to see Cowen removed from office as soon as possible as all patriots should feel that way. That's why I will be using my No vote as a way of speeding up Cowen's exit from office.

And if we vote No again, does anyone doubt there will be a third referendum? I may vote Yes in the third referendum.

[Ulster-Lad]

I will vote the same as before. NO

[Dunlin3]

The threat of a No vote was enough to force Ahern out, thankfully.

I hope the threat of a No vote will be enough to force Cowen out too.

The man has just handed 4 billion over to Anglo Irish Bank as a reward for corrupt banking practises and feathering the nests of FF developers.

Yet he doesn't have one cent to help find jobs for the unemployed, he is not renewing nurses contracts, or special needs teachers contracts and has provided a paltry 50 million as a jobs fund to the smes.

Billions for the bankers and developers, nothing to help nurses, teachers, and the unemployed back to work.

As a patriot, I feel it's my duty to see Cowen removed from office as soon as possible as all patriots should feel that way.

This government is a disaster, no doubt about that. People need to vote on the issues, the Goverment's handling of our economy has little to do with the Lisbon Treaty.

If people can't be trusted to decide on the issues then there's a good argument that these decisions should be made by national parliments which has happened in many other EU countries. Afterall we elect parliments to make all sorts of decisions.