Speaking during a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs today Senator de Burca said the newspaper, which describes itself as a ‘catholic monthly newspaper’ is peddling gross mistruths about the Lisbon Treaty and is preying on the most vulnerable in society.

Senator de Burca said: “It is important that the fundamentalist and extremist views of those writing for the Alive newspaper should not be allowed to win the debate on the Lisbon Treaty. I believe that the people who produce this newspaper are the equivalent of an Irish Taliban.

“They represent repressive and reactionary forces in Irish society that want to roll back much of the social progress that has occurred in this country as a direct result of our membership of the European Union. It is quite incredible that they describe the rights set out in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – women’s rights, the rights of children, elderly people and the disabled – as ‘dangerous’.”

Senator de Burca said she believes very few Irish people support the repressive and backward-looking vision of society being promoted by those writing for the Alive newspaper. “I am horrified to see advertisements in the Alive newspaper that prey on the fears of the elderly and the vulnerable in our society. On page 14 of the current newspaper, an advertisement claims that ‘under the Lisbon Treaty the EU could seize elderly people’s savings and homes, and can take children off people who suffer from mild forms of alcoholism or depression; or who do not own a family home’.”

Senator de Burca says that it is important that those who do support the progressive rights and values set out in the Lisbon Treaty should strongly refute the appalling claims being made by the Alive newspaper and those who speak on behalf of it and organisations such as Coir. “I would call on all right-thinking people to reject the warped and narrow vision of Irish society that they are trying to promote,” she concluded.

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Press Release by Deirdre