Commissioner Says 'No Sane Person' Would Read Lisbon Treaty

The European Commissioner has admitted that he has never read the Lisbon Treaty from cover to cover, and added he would expect no sane person to do so.

Speaking in Dublin, Mr Charlie McCreevy explained that the Treaty was a series of amendments to other amendments, and was unreadable to the ordinary person.

However, he said there was enough information and interpretation of it available to allow people to make up their minds.

He said there was a lot of interest in Brussels in the Irish referendum, but said there was no alternative to the current Treaty.

The commissioner added that the No side were getting their message across well, and it was up to the Yes side to do likewise. "Let the best team win," he added.

As the campaigns roll on, a new Fine Gael Lisbon Treaty website has been launched on Friday by the party's Deputy Lucinda Creighton, who is their spokesperson on European Affairs. She said that a Yes vote on the Lisbon Treaty is essential for Ireland to meet the various challenges of the 21st Century.

"The Lisbon Treaty aims to tackle new challenges in a strong, united European Union of 500 million people. We in Ireland face major challenges in relation to reducing CO2 emissions, reaching our international obligations on climate change and in ensuring that we secure affordable energy supplies to Ireland long into the future. Lisbon will facilitate us in achieving this. It is a fallacy to think we can do this on our own," Ms Creighton said.

(DW/JM)