""Voting 'no' in relation to a treaty is not a negative thing," Ms Connolly said. "'It's indicating the concerns that I and lots of people had. And, in fact, in voting 'no' we had to vote a second time on Nice and on Lisbon and we were given absolute, solemn promises in relation to our neutrality that seem to mean nothing at the moment.'"},{"
""Because we are now going down a road of saying that the Triple Lock is not a core part of our neutrality." "What's happening here in the last few weeks is a policy of fear, of diminishing the candidate," "And I say you're actually not just diminishing me, you're diminishing the role of the presidency, and you're also diminishing the people on the ground who are all actively canvassing for me, actively looking for hope.""
Catherine Connolly confirmed that she voted 'no' to the Lisbon and Nice treaties and said she had canvassed against the Lisbon treaty while not recalling canvassing against other treaties. She said voting 'no' signaled concerns shared by many and noted that voters were given solemn promises about Irish neutrality that now seem broken. She warned that the Triple Lock is being treated as non-core to neutrality. Connolly accused Fine Gael of running a negative, fear-based campaign over her foreign policy positions on the US, NATO, the Middle East and Russia, and said such tactics diminish the presidency and grassroots supporters.
Read at Irish Independent
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