‘Yes’ camp’s funding under fire as second Irish vote on Lisbon treaty looms Irish ‘yes’ camp funding attacked as vote looms Ryanair, Intel and lobbyists under fire for campaigning with ‘obscene’ amounts of money to rescue rejected Lisbon treaty David Sharrock, Ireland Correspondent With ten days to go before the Irish Republic votes again on the Lisbon treaty, questions are being asked about the funding of the “yes” campaign.

Joe Higgins, a Socialist Party MEP, claimed that the “yes” side was spending “obscene” amounts of money compared with the meagre resources of the “no” camp. “The role of big business in this referendum has ensured that the relatively slim resources on the ‘no’ side are absolutely dwarfed by the obscene amounts of money the Ryanairs and Intels are putting into the ‘yes’ side,” he said.

His accusations mark a turnaround from last year when the “yes’ camp, led by the Fianna Fáil Government, cast aspersions on the origins of the finances behind Libertas, founded by the multimillionaire businessman Declan Ganley. After the Republic rejected the treaty, which seeks to repackage the European constitution, Mr Ganley was cleared of any wrongdoing by a government watchdog. Now the source and scale of the “yes” camp’s finances are under scrutiny.

Michael O’Leary, the head of Ryanair, announced that the low-cost airline would spend €500,000 (£455,000) on promoting a “yes” vote. Ryanair paid for a full-page advertisement in the biggest-selling Irish daily newspaper yesterday that proclaimed: “1 million reasons to vote ‘Yes to Europe’. 1 million FREE seats. Vote Yes to Europe.”

Last October Mr O’Leary attacked the idea of forcing the Republic to vote again on the treaty. “It seems that only in the European Union, Ireland and Zimbabwe are you forced to vote twice,” he said.

Intel, which employs about 4,000 people at its microchip plant in Leixlip, west of Dublin, announced that it was spending €200,000 on advertisements and posters urging a “yes” vote. The company was given a €1 billion antitrust fine by the European Union in May.

The role of lobbyists in raising funds in Brussels for the “yes” campaign has also been exposed. One, Eamonn Bates, sent e-mails to fellow EU lobbying firms seeking donations of up to €30,000 to help a pro-Lisbon campaign.

Mr Bates said in his e-mail: “Personally, I do not think it was right to ask the Irish to vote again. However, now there is a rerun, I am convinced it would be wrong to allow a second ‘no’ vote to occur.”

He was seeking funds on behalf of Europe for Ireland, an organisation established by Irish people working in Brussels who want a “yes” result. The group plans to spend €500,000 on advertisements.

An e-mail sent on behalf of the group to companies in the European Public Affairs Consultancy Association last week called the situation in the Irish Republic “truly an emergency” and warned that the future of Europe was at stake.

Mr Bates said in his e-mail: “Powerful and misleading campaigning against the Lisbon treaty is under way and making inroads once again. Declan Ganley, who was so destructive in the first campaign, has re-entered the public debate bringing considerable financial resources to bear.

“If your company believes in a strong EU, then now is definitely the time to contribute financially.”

The appeal was passed to The Irish Times by another lobbyist, who commented: “The Irish electorate are likely to take a very dim view of commercial lobbyists entering the debate simply to protect their own profits, derived in part from lobbying the very institutions that would benefit most from a ‘yes’ vote.”

Mr Ganley told The Times yesterday: “The fact that this money trough is being tapped to overturn the democratic decision of the Irish people adds to the insult to democracy that is central to the Lisbon treaty process and content.

“The lobbyists win, the people lose. It epitomises what is going so very wrong in Brussels and why it needs to be fixed now. The European Union is a great idea, being rent asunder by unaccountable greed for money, influence and power underpinned by a quite stunning contempt for democracy.”

José Manuel Barroso, the newly re-elected European Commission President, used a visit to Limerick at the weekend to announce €14.8 million funding for 2,400 Dell workers in the city who have lost their jobs. Dell is moving its production facilities to Poland. The announcement of the money, under the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund, was criticised by “no” campaigners as an “opportunistic stunt ... clearly designed to influence the outcome of the referendum”.

Niamh Uí Bhriain, a spokeswoman for Cóir, which supports a “no” vote, said the money was a “drop in the ocean in terms of what will be lost in jobs and revenue if the EU goes ahead with plans to attack Ireland’s low corporate tax rate following the passage of the Lisbon treaty”.

Mr Barroso also used his visit to dispense reminders of a bankrupt Iceland, where “people went to the ATM machine and there was no money”.

He also reminded voters that Irish banks had received €120 billion in loans from the European Central Bank.

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