Ógra Shinn Féin’s 5 reasons to vote No! 2 Lisbon

1. The Lisbon Treaty does nothing to protect your rights as a worker. Recent European Court rulings against Trade Unions who where trying to protect low paid workers from exploitation, despite pressure from the people of Europe to resolve this, demonstrates that there is nothing to reverse these decisions. The so-called 'declaration' obtained from the EU does absolutely nothing to improve on this situation.

2. The Lisbon Treaty leaves public services wide open to further privatisation, and will continue the trend of essential public services being sold off or being used to make profit for wealthy businessmen. Think of your local school or hospital. Public services for the people, not the businessmen.

3. There will be more increases in the militarisation of the EU. Article 28 commits us to 'progressively improve their military capabilities', which will mean an increase in our spending on the military. What will come next?

4. Huge amounts of new powers are centralised in the EU in this treaty. Many people on the yes side of the debate will tell you that the treaty increases democracy because of the new powers given to the parliament. What they don't tell you is that these new powers aren't coming from the commission; they are coming from our own domestic parliaments. The EU will gain new powers in 105 new policy areas, on issues like asylum, transport, culture and justice. We will lose powers of veto in 68 areas. This treaty reduces democracy, not the other way around.

5. We already said no!! It shows a remarkable contempt for the will of the Irish people that they are asking us to vote on the exact same document, only a year later. In fact this is the third effort to force this treaty on the people of Europe. In 2005, France and the Netherlands voted no to the European constitution, which is accepted by all parties to be 96%, the same. What part of no don’t they understand? This time, let’s leave them in no doubt.

On Friday 2nd October, Vote No! 2 Lisbon - Vótáil Níl!