A hard-line Catholic newspaper in Ireland was accused by Irish MEPs of carrying an advert making false claims about the EU's Lisbon Treaty as voters prepare for a second referendum on the proposed text next month.
The Catholic newspaper 'Alive' has dedicated a half-page to an ad placed by Eire go Brach, a little-known charity, allegedly quoting Article 6 from the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the EU's Lisbon Treaty.
"Under the Lisbon Treaty, the EU could seize elderly people's savings and homes," because of their mental health or financial status, the advert claims.
According to the advert, the Charter will automatically allow the "EU state to take possession of [those] people's children, homes and financial savings" due to their condition.
Article 6 of the treaty is quoted in the advert as allowing "the lawful detention of persons for the prevention of the spreading of infectious diseases" and of "persons of unsound mind (mental illness, depression, alzheimer’s, autism, special needs), alcoholics, drug addicts or vagrants (homeless)".
Marian Harkin, an Irish MEP, said she worried that the statements were resonating with the Irish electorate.
She said she had received phone calls from care workers in Ireland who told her they were worried that the EU's draft Lisbon Treaty would discriminate against children with autism and disabilities.
Speaking to Irish colleagues in Parliament, Harkin dismissed the claims as nonsense, showing her own copy of the charter, in which Article 6 reads: "Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person."
"This information is being used to terrorise families, particularly families with autistic children and children with disabilities," Harkin told a group of Irish MEPs in favour of the Lisbon Treaty who were meeting in the European Parliament on Wednesday (9 September).
Harkin said she had confronted the editor of Alive, Father Brian McKevitt from Tallaght, Dublin, about an editorial that was published ahead of the European Parliamentary elections which inferred that ALDE, the liberal party to which she belongs, were pro-abortion. A claim she, and ALDE, deny. Harkin said she was refused a right of reply in the paper.
Father McKevitt told EurActiv that he did not verify the contents of the advert before it was printed. The paper, according to the editor, does not take any view on Lisbon. Regarding Harkin's comments about an anti-Lisbon editorial last year, the priest said her complaints confirm his belief that MEPs in favour of Lisbon stifle debate on the treaty and do not like the public to raise questions about the treaty's concrete meaning.
Father McKevitt said he was seriously concerned about the charter's contents and how it will be employed in practice. "Catholicism exercises the power of subsidiarity which means power should rest as close as possible to the people." McKevitt's vote is not yet secure, he said, and if there is still one issue that is uncertain to him, he will vote 'no'.
Eire go Braich, who placed the advert, said they very much share Father McKevitt's concerns. "If Irish law is in conflict with European law, Irish law is subordinate and that is very worrying," a spokesperson told EurActiv. The advertisements contents are a direct quote from a consolidated version of the treaty published by the Dublin-based Institute for International and European Affairs, the spokesperson said, referencing page 310 from her own version.
The charity has misrepresented the meaning of the charter, said Peadar o Broin from the IIEA. He confirms that the IIEA published the treaty text and that it is the same copy as that circulated in the public domain. The advertisement has quoted the explanation of Article 6 which, says o Broin, will not be legally binding. "This is the member states' interpretation of the article's meaning in their respective jurisdictions. This text carries no force of law in any jurisdiction and should be viewed as a guide."
The document, seen by EurActiv, clearly states "these explanations have been prepared at the instigation of the Praesidium. They have no legal value and are simply intended to clarify the provisions of the Charter".
"I don't think they have been strict in verifying their quotes," said o Broin of the advertisement, as the charter does not mention people with "mental illness, depression, Alzheimer's, autism or special needs" as it appears in the ad in Alive. In addition Eire go Braich represented the article's explanation as the actual article. "This is a warped manipulation of the charter's contents."
The Irish 'yes' and 'no' campaigns are based on rebuttals, says o Broin, and on what it does not do as opposed to what it does do. "There is no wonder that people are confused as the campaigns have no tangible connection to the reforms."
