Many issues have come up so far in the Lisbon debate, some very relevant, some less so. The key issues the Socialist Party have been raising so far are workers rights, public services and miltarisation. Elsewhere Joe Higgins has looked at the issue of workers' rights and public services. Here, he goes into precisely how Lisbon boosts the armaments industry and is another step towards a militarised EU.
Over the past few weeks speculation has intensified about the proposed property tax which we are told the government intends to introduce next year following an announcement in the Budget speech in December. There is an absence of hard information from the government but, in general, in the establishment media there is agreement that a property tax should be imposed with the rider that it should be ‘fair and equitable.’ For property tax we should substitute ‘home tax.’
The intervention of the European Commission into the debate on Lisbon in Ireland has become yet more brazen. The sight of Antonio Tanjani on a whistle-stop tour of the country with Michael O'Leary campaigning for a Yes vote has removed any remaining shred of impartiality. That the European Commission would interfere in the debate in Ireland in this manner is a disgrace. It is a ploy aimed at increasing the pressure on the Irish people to vote Yes.