Kenny will respect Lisbon Treaty vote
Thursday, 18 September 2008
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has indicated his party would not support attempts to ratify parts of the Lisbon Treaty through the Dáil.
Mr Kenny said that the people had spoken and that he would not like to circumvent that by some other method.
However, he said these matters would have to be looked at by the Oireachtas Committee, which is to examine the reasons for and the implications of the rejection of the treaty.
Mr Kenny also said it was 'disquieting' that a person newly arrived on the political scene, such as Declan Ganley, was able to spend more on the Lisbon Referendum campaign than all the political parties combined.
He said it was 'hypocritical in the extreme' for Mr Ganley to criticise transparency in EU financial arrangements when the public did not know where the funding for the Libertas campaign came from.
Environment Minister John Gormley says he will be changing the spending rules in referendums to make the funding of third party campaigns more transparent.
Mr Gormley also said he will introduce spending limits for candidates in next year's local elections.
Speaking in Tralee where his party is meeting, Mr Gormley said there had been anecdotal reports of candidates spending up to €50,000 on their campaigns.
He believes that this behaviour was wrong and potentially damaged the political system.
He said he would be consulting the Oireachtas Environment committee about the precise level of any limit.
- Six One News: David McCullagh, Political Correspondent, reports that the party has set ambitious election targets
- Nine News: David McCullagh, Political Correspondent, reports that Fine Gael has called for an emergency debate on the economy when the Dáil returns
- One News: David McCullagh, Political Correspondent, reports that Fine Gael will run at least one female candidate for all town and borough councils
- Morning Ireland: Cian McCormack reports from the Fine Gael party think-in where discussion has focused on the demise of the PD party and the worsening economic crisis
- Morning Ireland: Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny cites the lack of competition on Dublin bus routes as one of the Government's failings
- News At One: Frank Flannery, Fine Gael Director of Elections, says even holding what they had previously in the EP would be a success
