1. Lisbon gives the EU the right to overrule Irish law and the Irish Constitution
2. How Lisbon can affect Irish taxes and our economy
3. Lisbon means we lose control over immigration
4. Under the Lisbon Treaty Ireland loses power in Europe
5. The Lisbon Treaty gives the EU Courts the right to decide our values
6. Lisbon gives the EU the right to levy taxes
7. Lisbon gives the EU the constitutional form of a Federal State
8. Lisbon removes Ireland's right to a permanent EU Commissioner

1. Lisbon gives the EU the right to overrule Irish law and the Irish Constitution

The Lisbon Treaty makes it very clear that EU law can overrule the Irish Constitution and Irish laws in any case of conflict between the two. EU law and national law deal with different areas and matters, but the EU now makes the majority - 68% - of our new laws each year.

”Declaration 17 concerning Primacy", which is attached to the Lisbon Treaty would give the EU the power to make laws binding on the Irish people in many new areas and would take that power away from the Irish Dáil and from Irish citizens who elect the Dáil.

If a conflict arises between EU law and Irish law, the Lisbon Treaty is very clear: EU law always trumps Irish law.

2. How Lisbon can affect Irish taxes and our economy:

Lisbon is a self-amending Treaty and Article 48 allows the Prime Ministers and Presidents to decide that policies on company taxation could be decided by a majority of countries.

This means that the Irish people lose the right to veto or stop an EU decision to end the low tax rates which have brought so many multinationals to Ireland.

Article 113 of the Treaty also gives the EU Court the right to decide that our taxation policies give Ireland an unfair advantage and are uncompetitive. That means our low tax regime could be considered illegal by the EU.

Irish Commissioner Charlie McCreevy admitted in May, 2007 that the EU Commission wanted to “take control of taxation”. He said that it was part of a "long-term hidden agenda - a sinister idea that refuses to die". And he warned of EU plans to give the lion's share of consolidated tax revenues to bigger countries like Germany and France at the expense of smaller nations.

A National Parliament can veto the use of the self-amending mechanism, but citizens can not, as we would have accepted this method of rule by agreeing the Lisbon Treaty. National Parliaments usually back their Prime Ministers anyway. After Lisbon is ratified there would be no need, practically speaking, for further EU referendums.

Lisbon may also be used to limit Ireland’s right to encourage Foreign Direct Investment – in other words, to prevent us wooing foreign companies here with promises of state aid. Given that a significant number of Irish people are employed by such companies, giving this power to the EU would be a dangerous step for Ireland.

Our government should never have allowed Foreign Direct Investment to come under the control of the Common Commercial Policy under Lisbon.

3. Lisbon means we lose control over immigration

If the Lisbon Treaty is passed Ireland will lose her control over immigration - even when immigrants are coming from countries outside the EU. We’ll be forced to accept the common EU policy on immigration and asylum.

Ireland opened her doors to more than 400,000 immigrants following the Nice Treaty. But now that we’re facing an economic downturn, with 2,000 jobs being lost each week, it’s crucial that we keep control of our immigration policy.

The problem is that if we sign up to the Lisbon Treaty we’ll have signed away the right to decide who can come to Ireland looking for employment. That’ll be decided by the EU and it simply won’t matter how that affects us, our economy and our unemployment rate.

4. Under the Lisbon Treaty, Ireland loses power in Europe

Lisbon shifts power further away from smaller states like Ireland and towards the bigger states such as Germany. When the EU first came together, Ireland was an equal member. But now a population-based system means our influence is seriously reduced.

If the Lisbon Treaty is passed, our voting weight in the Parliament will be slashed by 66%. Germany’s power and influence, on the other hand, will increase by 110%. Lisbon means our voice, and that of all other smaller European nations, is weaker in the EU and we lose the power to be heard.

Ireland’s vote in the all-important Council of Ministers will be cut by 60% while Germany’s increases by 100%. And we’ll lose the right to an EU Commissioner – the people who actually propose all the laws – for 33% of the time.

We’ll also lose our Irish veto in 68 areas including immigration, employment, and energy.

The Lisbon Treaty does provide for a right of petition to the Commission by one million European citizens asking it to propose a new EU law, but there is no obligation on the Commission to do anything apart from "considering" such a request. It can ignore it or reject it. In other words, the citizens, if they get a million signatures, have the right to complain and then hope for the best.

5. The Lisbon Treaty gives the EU Courts the right to decide our values

It is up to you – and the rest of the Irish people – to decide what kind of society we want. But legal experts have warned that our wishes could be simply overruled if the Lisbon Treaty is passed.

That's because attached to the Treaty of Lisbon is a Charter of Rights that it is legally binding on all member states including Ireland. Lisbon makes us all citizens of a new EU super-state and the Charter gives the EU Court the power to decide laws and social policies for all citizens - including the Irish people. 

So, if Lisbon passes, the wishes of the Irish people can be overruled on important areas such as the right to life, marriage and adoption, raising children, the right to strike, euthanasia, and on other important issues.

That's how much power the Charter of Rights attached to the treaty gives to the EU Court of Justice. We'd all be EU citizens, in a new EU super-state, and the EU Court would have the right to decide if we should make abortion available, or if we should keep the right to trial by jury, or if we should introduce euthanasia etc.

The Irish government has tried to re-assure Irish voters by saying they have obtained assurances from the EU in regard to abortion and other ethical issues. But those assurances are not legally binding since they are not part of EU law.

So the government then said they would get a protocol on abortion attached to a treaty in the future (maybe in 2011) which would be legally binding. But what they are not telling voters is that any such protocol would be open to challenge in the EU Court because of the immense power of the Charter of Rights. It would be up to the EU Court to decide whether the Charter can overrule our Constitution and any protocol on abortion. Since the EU Court has already found in the Grogan case that abortion is merely a service this bodes badly for Irish pro-life laws.

The fact is despite the so-called guarantees, the European Courts of Justice, not the Irish people, will have the right to decide our values.

6. Lisbon gives the EU the right to levy taxes

Lisbon also permits the EU to raise its "own resources" by means of any kind of new EU tax. Article 311 of the Treaty foresees that this may be necessary to finance the attainment of the EU’s many objectives. The 27 EU Prime Ministers and Presidents would have to decide unanimously what taxes to impose, and once National Parliaments approved, that would be that. There would be no need of a referendum in Ireland or anywhere else in the EU, for we would have permitted this development by voting for Lisbon.

7. Lisbon gives the EU the constitutional form of a Federal State

Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian Prime Minister, was absolutely correct when he said that the EU Constitution is “the capstone of a European Federal State.”

The Lisbon Treaty enforces the Constitution in four legal steps:

(a) It gives the European Union its own legal personality and independent corporate existence for the first time, separate from and superior to its Member States;
(b) It abolishes the European Community which we have been members of since 1973 and replaces it with the new Union; and,
(c) It brings all public policy either actually or potentially within the scope of the new Union.
(d) It then makes us real citizens of this new European Union it would establish.

Lisbon gives the EU all the normal powers of a Federal State. This new Federal EU would have its own political President, Foreign Minister and foreign and security policy, its own diplomatic service and voice at the UN, and its own Public Prosecutor. It would make most of our laws and would decide what our basic rights are in all areas of EU law.

This would be a federation where laws are proposed by unelected bodies - the EU Commission, Council of Ministers and the EU Court. Lisbon means less democracy at the EU level, not more.

8. Lisbon removes Ireland's right to a permanent EU Commissioner

The EU Commission is the unelected body which proposes all EU laws, which are then made by the Council of Ministers. It is, quite simply, the real seat of power in the EU.

The European Parliament is limited to making amendments – which may or may not be accepted. Having a Commissioner therefore gives a nation a vital voice in the EU.

Under the Lisbon Treaty, Ireland would only have a member on the Commission for two out of every three Commission terms. For 33% of the time, we simply won’t be heard at the Commissioners’ table!

The Big EU States would lose their right to a permanent Commissioner also, but their size and weight give them other means of exerting influence on that key body.

Furthermore, under Lisbon, even our limited representation will be curtailed, as we can only “suggest” a Commissioner for the short time we have at the table. Our suggestion must be accepted by the Commission President who can also ask a Commissioner to resign at any time.

Qualified Majority Voting means that decisions made in the EU no longer need the agreement of all countries in the EU. It allows the bigger states to gang up and form a majority to push through decisions.

Each shift of power from the national level to the EU entails a further shift of power from the Irish people to individual government Ministers at EU level.