Wish you were here

The Irish government is planning to spend millions of euros of taxpayers' money going all-out with a propaganda postcard campaign which aims to "explain" the so-called 'guarantees' offered to Ireland in return for holding a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Judging by the language on the Irish government's own Lisbon Treaty site, the information will be highly subjective, 100% positive about Lisbon, and there will be no opportunity for opponents to offer an alternative view. Sounds like a very fair way to spend public money.

The government is telling a lot of porkies and getting away with it. For instance, the Irish Times today unblinkingly reports that "The guarantees on taxation, on the protection of the right to life, the family and education and Irish neutrality will become legally binding, the Government says, immediately once the treaty enters into force." This is completely untrue - how can they become 'immediately' binding, when they have to wait for the next EU Treaty - probably the Croatian Accession Treaty, which might not materialse for years? Particularly given the current border dispute with Slovenia.

And while we're on this subject of what 'legally-binding' - the catchphrase of the moment - actually means, so far, nobody, including our own Foreign Secretary David Miliband, has been able to explain exactly why, if the guarantees are 'legally-binding' from the moment the Lisbon Treaty enters into force, they also then need to be ratified into EU law at a later date in the form of a protocol? See here for how the Irish government fails to answer the question.