Lisbon Update in the Post

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin T.D., has arranged to provide every household in the country with an update on the Lisbon Treaty and Ireland’s legal guarantees. 

A postcard is being sent to households explaining the outcome of last month’s European Council at which the EU confirmed that:

 Ireland, and all other Member States, will keep a Commissioner;
 Irish neutrality will not be affected – no conscription, no defence alliances;
 Ireland retains control of sensitive ethical issues such as abortion;
 Workers’ rights and public services are valued and protected in Ireland and across the EU.

“The government has ensured,” the Minister said, “that when the people vote on the Lisbon Treaty in October, it will come with new legally-binding guarantees to address the concerns which emerged during the referendum campaign last year.  The distribution of the postcard is part of the Government’s determined effort to ensure that the public will be well informed about the Treaty and Ireland’s legal guarantees which were agreed by the EU leaders in Brussels recently.  These guarantees will be legally binding from the same date as the Lisbon Treaty and will later be attached to the EU Treaties as a protocol.”

Note for the editor

The postcard is printed in Irish and English and will be available in audio-visual and Braille formats.  1.9 millions copies will be distributed.  The Dáil and the Seanad are scheduled to debate the Twenty-Eight Amendment of the Constitution (Treaty of Lisbon) Bill 2009 later this week.  The full texts of the treaties, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the legal guarantees are available at www.lisbontreaty.ie.

Ends+++
6 July 2009
Press Office