BUNCRANA-based
Councillor Pádraig MacLochlainn will be among the
guest speakers this Friday, May 30, at a public
meeting in Letterkenny on the Lisbon Treaty. He will
be joined by Patricia McKenna of the Green Party and
Independent Councillor Thomas Pringle.
The meeting has been organised by The Peoples'
Movement and will take place in the Mount Errigal
Hotel, Letterkenny, at 8pm. All welcome.
Donegal Senator Cecilia Keaveney has called for a
'Yes' vote in the upcoming referendum on the Lisbon
Treaty on June 12. She said she believed it would
strengthen Ireland's place in a better EU. "For 35
Years, Ireland has benefited greatly from our
membership of the European Union. The EU has
impacted positively right across our society. Its
effects are so far reaching, that we often take them
for granted. In terms of funding alone, we received
direct financial support of €58 billion from the EU
between 1973 and 2003," she said.
MEP Marian Harkin has hit out at the 'No' group
Libertas for suggesting Ireland will lose a
commissioner.
"For those who argue that we need less interference
from Brussels - it makes no sense that they should
propose 27 commissioners with their staff and
advisors etc., to draft more European legislation
when in fact 18 commissioners will do the same job
perfectly well at a reduced cost and with much less
bureaucracy," she said.
Sinn Féin Senator Pearse Doherty has quashed the
notion that the EU does not need 27 commissioners.
“Government claims that it is not practical or
efficient to have 27 Commissioners is nonsense. In
the Dáil there are 15 ministers and 20 junior
ministers for a population of less than 5 million
people. It seems more than credible and necessary to
have 27 commissioners to represent more than 500
million people," he said. |
