Catherine Reilly (Dublin, Metro Eireann): Just days before he left office on 7th of May, former Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Bertie Ahern told an audience at Harvard University that rejecting the Lisbon Treaty would be an “act of lunacy” by the Irish people.
For a man lauded for his so-called common touch, and ear to the ground, it was an odd choice of expression. Irish people don’t like being told what to do. Irish people don’t like being tagged potential lunatics. This sense of being patronised was, I believe, a factor in Ireland’s initial rejection of the Nice Treaty in 2001, quite aside from concerns over neutrality.
Interestingly, new Justice Minister Dermot Ahern TD - who was promoted from his foreign affairs brief in last week’s cabinet reshuffle - has constantly played down the implications of a No vote, adopting a stoical ‘life would go on’ message (this, despite the fact that he resoundingly supports a Yes vote). Just like the dad who tells his teenage daughter that she can go to Friday night’s disco, but he won’t be paying for it, it has been a clever tactic.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD has been similarly circumspect. Since taking office, he has placed full emphasis on the benefits that EU membership has wrought for Ireland, linking a Yes vote as a fitting return from a self-confident, modern Ireland. He has also played on Ireland’s current sense of economic uncertainty, as the country begins to come to terms with the fact that the boom is no more. “It is very important that we get a Yes vote,” Cowen said last Saturday. “It is critically important to our strategic interest and to our national interest.”
Indeed, the so-called debate surrounding the Lisbon Treaty is showing signs of shifting from the treaty itself, to the role of the EU in general. Don’t be fooled by the EU flags prominently perched on buildings throughout Dublin (remnants, it would see, from the 2004 presidency): there is a disconnectedness between Irish people and the role of the European Union, with Eurocrats often perceived as gravy train joyriders. Furthermore, the emigration to Ireland of tens of thousands of central and eastern Europeans following the 2004 accession of their countries has dramatically changed Ireland’s social and demographic profile. Now the Irish economy is waning, and questions are beginning to be asked about Irish workers’ rights. It's all fun and games, as they say, until someone loses an eye.
On 5th of May, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) urged its 45,000 members to vote against the Lisbon Treaty. TEEU general secretary Eamon Devoy took the stance on the back of recent judgements by the EU's highest court, which he said had shown that big business is being favoured over workers' rights.
“In the circumstances, it would be foolish to provide the institutions of the European Union with more power,” he told the Irish Independent.
Devoy cited three judgements with key implications for workers. The Laval case found against Swedish workers who had been blockading a building site to prevent Latvian workers, with lower wages, from accessing the site; the Viking judgement backed a Finnish company that used cheaper Estonian workers on its boats; and the Ruffert judgement found that the EU's internal market principle of freedom of services takes precedence over collective bargaining deals.
Devoy was quoted in The Irish Times as saying: “Twice in recent times we have found Polish workers ... being grossly exploited by German contractors and paid as little as €5 an hour. In another instance, we discovered Serbian electricians being paid as little as $3.81 an hour. We were only able to ensure proper rates were paid to these workers after strong pressure, including the prospect of industrial action, was exerted on the companies concerned.”
The fear is - and has been - that workers from central and eastern Europe are undercutting Irish workers by working for less. In addition, many workers from the newest EU countries are working in Ireland through agencies, rather than being directly employed by the company that they are, in fact, working for. So agency worker Piotr is earning €8.65 per hour and company employee Pádraig gets twice this amount - both standing at the same assembly line. It’s gotten a little bit ugly.
Nevertheless, the latest Sunday Business Post/Red C poll has showed support for the treaty has risen.
The poll showed the number planning to vote Yes at 38 per cent, up three per cent on a previous poll a fortnight ago. Support for the No side was at 28 per cent, down three percent.
However, some 34 per cent remained undecided.
