Nothing matters, Mary, when you're free

The words of a touching Irish folk song come to mind this evening as the Republic of Ireland has voted, by a majority of 2:1, to cede sovereignty issues to people they can't elect.

Only 59% of the Irish electorate even bothered to turn out to the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

Having, as oft portrayed, shaken off the 'English jackboot' with arms, at great cost not least to my people, they've now embraced the German jackboot with arms wider than Dublin Bay.

In many years' time, when I'm dead and gone and this blog has been wiped from disks that don't yet exist, history books will have exposed the true extent of the treachery of Ireland's political élite in dressing up a referendum about the mechanics of power as a referendum on whether or not Ireland wants to be friends.

Truly to blame, however, are the people of Ireland who failed to peek under the pretty clothes, who simply swallowed the smokescreen and who, ultimately, put these dubious patriots in power in the first place.

Now the EU, and political manipulators everywhere, know beyond doubt: in a post-democratic world, surface can win over substance.

The mortal remains of many lovers of Irish freedom - of all backgrounds - will be spinning tonight.

Say NO to Lisbon

I'm coming out of semi-retirement today because democracy is at risk in the other part of the Irish nation, the Republic of Ireland, a country that has long prided itself on independence.

The Lisbon Treaty is the subject of my fellow Irishmen's referendum tomorrow. Not "do we like Europe?", not "do we want to be nice to the Germans?", not "should we be grateful for the past funding?"

The Lisbon Treaty is a 95%-unchanged version of the draft EU constitution resoundingly kicked out by the French and the Dutch because it cedes key sovereignty issues to the unelected grey suits of Brussels. So the euro-élite repackaged it as something they could pass themselves, unhindered: the Lisbon Treaty, now sycophantically ratified by most parliaments of the big nations who don't have to ask their people. Why, out of good manners, have France and the Netherlands not been asked to vote on the Lisbon Treaty? Because it's being railroaded.

The plush corridors of Brussels are a guaranteed final resting place for failed national politicians. They want them. They need them. Their countries, however DO NOT. It's been said elsewhere that Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who drafted the constitution, warned that no citizens should be asked to vote on it. I bet he did.

Three countries have voted on the constitution/Lisbon Treaty, and all three have rejected it.

The Republic of Ireland is the only EU country whose constitution demands that national soverign power may not be ceded without a referendum. Thank God for Bunreacht na hÉireann. It's the only document in the entire EU able to stop the grey men in their treacherous tracks.

But now, with Ireland in dire economic straits, the euro-élite have piled the pressure on the Irish political classes. "Aw, go on, ask them again. And make sure you get a 'yes'."

I'm a committed supporter of free trade and political cooperation by independent governments in Europe. If you're voting in the Republic's referendum tomorrow, please vote NO to the Lisbon Treaty. That way, you'll be voting 'yes' to Europe by retaining democratic control and saving it from the euro-élite. You're the only ones that can.

Many died for your independence. Don't piss it away.