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30 May 2012

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Irish Daily Star and Daily Mirror lash 'Yes' campaign for scare tactics

'There is also a real danger that if this is passed it will enshrine austerity in the Constitution and lead to years of hardship for ordinary people' – Mirror editorial

TWO of Ireland's most-read newspapers have lashed the FIne Gael/Labour Government and its Yes campaign or being based on fear, threats and the Taoiseach's refusal to stand over his claims in a live TV debate head to head with Gerry Adams.

The Irish Daily Mirror editorial today was scathing of Enda Kenny for running away from a TV debate with the Sinn Féin leader.

If this referendum is carried, the Mirror editorial said, "it will give the unelected European Commission the powers to dictate how the Government spends Irish taxpayers' cash. There is also a real danger that if it is passed it will enshrine austerity in the Constitution and lead to years of hardship for ordinary people."

While the Taoiseach claimed a Yes vote would show the world Ireland is 'open for business' "he is unwilling to explain such nonsense in a live debate". Instead, the Mirror continued, "the Government has engaged in threats to make our lives more miserable with harsher Budgets if the referendum is rejected".

"The politicians who promised change and reneged on their promises are now making promises they cannot keep."

Asking the Irish people to agree a treaty that does not provide for growth "when more than 440,000 are on the dole and tens of thousands are leaving the country to look or work is simply outrageous", the Mirror said.

It ended by hoping that anniversaries of the 1916 Easter Rising are not marked by future generations recalling "that Ireland's sovereignty was not lost – it was given away".

In the Irish Daily Star editorial page – under the headline 'You can vote however you like . . . once it's yes' and the strapline 'Government's terror tactics are a total betrayal' – columnist Terry McGeehan says:

"The Fianna Failures sold our sovereignty but this Blueshirt/Labour Lite junta is not only selling our soul – but selling it to the lowest fecking bidder at an insulting bargain basement price."

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