Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I am not asking for the best out of three because I respect democracy. The people have spoken, for whatever reason. If I wanted to go down that road, I would ask for the next referendum to be held after the forthcoming budget. In such circumstances, I wonder if the people would accept the con job that was perpetrated, to the effect that the Lisbon treaty would help the economy and bring an end to the recession, to try to buy votes. Some 1,214,268 people voted in the referendum earlier this month. Of those entitled to vote, 38.8% voted "Yes" and 19% voted "No". That just 58% of those entitled to vote did so is an indictment of the failure of public representatives, of all political parties and none, to secure high turnouts in referenda. The views of almost 42% of those who were entitled to vote were not reflected in the final result.

The turnout in the recent referendum increased by five percentage points when compared to the 2008 referendum. I cannot explain away the difference in the vote this time as I did in the case of the Nice treaty, by pointing out that the "No" vote remained virtually static in terms of numbers, but not percentages, between the first and second referendums. On that occasion, all the extra votes went to the "Yes" side. On this occasion, there was a substantial swing from the "No" side to the "Yes" side because the people were bullied or frightened into voting "Yes". The "Yes" side's creation of the illusion that the referendum was on the membership of the European Union meant people were confused. There was never a doubt about our membership.

I have mentioned my concerns about voter turnout not only in respect of referenda but also in respect of local elections, European elections and general elections. As with the first referendum on the Lisbon treaty, the turnout for the second was at its highest in the affluent areas. Through the good work of many groups, including the Vincentian Partnership for Social Justice, local community groups and political parties, we managed to increase the turnout in some of the working class estates in Dublin. However, on this occasion the turnout in most working class areas was only in the order of 50% or 55%. When one compares this statistic with the turnout in Chapelizod, 77%, Terenure, 87%, and Templeogue, over 80%, one realises just where the "Yes" voters came from.

My constituency, Dublin South-Central, had one of the highest "No" votes, which I regret was not above 50%. In Drimnagh virtually every box produced an outcome of "No", and the same was the case in Crumlin. The vote in Ballyfermot was overwhelmingly in favour of the "No" side, running between 55% and 60%. The residents of the Oliver Bond complex voted "No". Some voted "No" in Inchicore and the residents of Bluebell voted "No". In Cherry Orchard, the proportion of "No" votes in one box was 89%. This shows that those who were not visited by the Celtic tiger, namely, people in working class areas, do not trust the Government. They have seen that the Government has failed them. It has failed to deliver for them because it was too busy looking after the bankers and speculators. It promised them much and led them up the garden path of public private partnership for the regeneration of flat complexes and areas. These promises collapsed. We saw an example of it this week in St. Theresa's Gardens.

The Government said it would tackle the drugs, alcohol, crime and unemployment problems in the aforesaid areas but failed time and again in every respect. If the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, or any of his colleagues was on "The Apprentice", currently showing on TV3, he would be fired. As Mr. Bill Cullen says on the programme, "You are useless."

The Minister of State's fellow travellers on the campaign, those in the unions and the Labour Party, have let down the working class through their support for the Lisbon treaty. As I said during the referendum campaign, shame on them. Their decision will come back to haunt them. I cannot figure out how they could not see the agenda of the European Union in recent years. It is anti-worker. Given the current economic climate, the Government should, at the very least, have argued for additional protections for workers. Additional supports should have been secured for the millions now redundant on dole queues across the Union. Additional resources for the retraining and education of workers and people in the dole queues should have been made available. An opportunity to protect the Irish people whom the unions and Labour Party purport to represent was rejected. A signal could have been sent out during the first referendum campaign and prior to the declaration that there was to be a second referendum that unless there were enforceable guarantees and changes to the treaty text, there would be a "No" vote in this country.

Last year after the first referendum on the Lisbon treaty, which resulted in a "No" vote, I believed the leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Gilmore, when he said, "The Lisbon treaty is dead". Perhaps it was foolish of me. Deputy Gilmore later gave the treaty life, as did some others in the Opposition benches. Deputy Costello referred to people being emboldened. The Labour Party had an opportunity to be emboldened so as to demand effective changes but it did not take up that opportunity. The Deputy said we cannot always have two bites of the cherry. One should have been enough, in which case a proper message would have been circulated not only to the Government but also to the other Governments in the Union. The message is that a second vote on the same treaty should produce the same result: "No". The message now being circulated is that one should not worry about the ratification of treaties by Ireland because if its electorate gets it wrong the first time, there will be no problem because it can be bribed or bullied into changing its mind, on the basis that this has been done twice already.

I hope the Irish will not rue the day they passed this referendum and hung a noose around the necks of future Governments and generations, and around the current Government's ability to govern in the people's best interests. Our interests are now playing second fiddle to those who are behind the European project, which project is dominated by larger countries with a NATO-based and pro-nuclear agenda. Most of these larger countries have an imperialist past and some have an imperialist present.

Many other issues arise in respect of the referendum campaign but I will just touch upon one. I do not know which bright spark came up with the idea of attaching the polling card to the document. This never happened before. It caused considerable confusion, not only among those on the "Yes" side but also among those on the "No" side.

Comhghairdeas dóibh siúd a sheas an fód i gcoinne fheachtas an Rialtais agus cairde an Rialtais a dhein iarracht scanradh a chur ar an phobal gan vóta a chaitheamh i gcoinne Conradh Liospóin arís. Níor bhuamar an uair seo, ach beidh muid ar ais arís má leanann an Eoraip an treo ina shílim a bhfuil á thógaint aici.

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