No to Lisbon Campaign 2009 

The Campaign so far : 18 September

Posters, leaflets and canvassing

Cóir will erect 14,000 posters during the campaign and distribute more than a million leaflets.

The posters appear in three waves: The first wave of 6,000 posters spelled out Cóir’s primary concerns with the treaty: Sovereignty, the democratic deficit in the EU; our loss of power in Europe under Lisbon and workers’ rights.  

The second wave – 4,000 of the “pink hearts” posters – take a radically different approach, and are a new departure in political campaigning. They address the issue of the supremacy of EU law over the Irish constitution, the loss of control with the Lisbon Treaty, and also reinforce the message regarding the right to earn a living wage. Accompanying the pink hearts is a long narrow poster featuring a giraffe with the question “Vote again” and the strap “They’ve got some neck”.

The third wave of 4,000 posters will focus on the economy and the inability of the EU Council’s assurances to protect our social laws. 

See the posters here: http://www.coircampaign.org/index.php/materials-documents/posters

Posters are effective in getting people talking, but to really bring the message home we needed to arrange leafleting and canvassing. We’ve produced a general leaflet, another on the Charter and social issues, one for farmers, and one for students.

To see the leaflets see: http://www.coircampaign.org/index.php/materials-documents/leaflets

Cóir has signed up 2,600 volunteers by holding more than 30 private and public meetings on the treaty. The most important work done by these volunteers is the door-to-door canvass, which explains the issues to voters. The canvass also prompts voters to turn out and vote on the day, and it is our belief that turnout is crucial to the result. In sharp contrast, we repeatedly hear that no Yes campaigners are going door-to-door.

The internet

Our website, www.coircampaign.org is the most popular of all Irish Lisbon websites, from either the Yes or No campaigns, and is more popular even than the Referendum Commission website by a factor of 3 to 1.

See our latest youtube feature on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjuyHZKgxCs. Our 2008 video  was the most popular amongst all videos posted about the treaty. Watch it at http://www.youtube.com/user/LisbonVote#play/uploads/1/mgRLs4_1KI0

A Facebook campaign complementing Cóir pink hearts posters was launched today

Other

Newspaper advertising has already begun, with more, including online advertising, to follow if budget allows.

Leaflets for students and farmers will be distributed in colleges and the National Ploughing Championships.

Teams hit the main shopping areas for mass canvasses at weekday lunchtimes and on Saturdays.

We’re planning several street days with music and special features.

Expenditure

Cóir hopes to raise €250,000 to spend on our No to Lisbon campaign. Most of the expenditure will be on posters and leaflets, which are erected and distributed entirely by volunteers, in contrast to the political parties and organizations such as Ireland for Europe, who must pay to have this work done.

Cóir is SIPO registered and fully compliant. All donations come from Irish citizens.

Other

Our Campaign Co-ordinator is Scott Schittl, all of our staff are volunteers. Spokespersons are Richard Greene, Brian Hickey, Peter Murphy and Manus Mac Meanmain.

All design and production is undertaken in-house by volunteers. Posters are chosen by collating the responses from a group of 140 people, which are then compared to responses received by showing a short list of posters to passers-by in several centres throughout the country. Leaflets undergo a similar process.