Homeland Art

As you may have heard, Ireland voted “no” to the Lisbon Treaty. It has really upset the politicians from the mainstream political parties in Ireland and members of the European parliment. All of the other European countries were expected to pass the treaty (because the parliments in each country were to vote on it rather than putting it to the people in a referendum). It was expected to pass easily in all the countries, including Ireland (up until the last few days before the irish referendum anyway).

Why did the people vote “no”?

1. The Lisbon Treaty is a complicated document. Apparently it’s more interesting to watch paint dry than to read the treaty. Even our Taoiseach (Prime Minister) admitted he didn’t read it. They gave it to a bunch of lawyers to break down and summarize the main points. I started to read that broken down version and frankly I decided I needed to go to the shops before I finished. So, people decided to vote no because they did not fully understand what they were asking to endorse.

2. The Irish population did not like being told what to do by an out of touch, arrogant government.

3. There are a lot of things the population are unhappy with (including health care, our justice system, transport) and they wanted to send the governemnt a message.

So, we are entering “unchartered territory”, as the government puts it. By law the Lisbon Treaty is dead if it is not ratified by all of the member states. So they are all busy scratching their heads in Brusells. The Irish people are not anti-Europe by any means. We have benefited greatly from being part of the EU, arguably more than any other member state, but in my opinion the campaign by the goverment to educate the people was a disaster. They were over confident and complacent.

So, we are entering interesting times. Tired of reading about politics? Check out some great Irish Art!

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