THE IRISH INDEPENDENT AND THE NON-EXISTENT EUROPEAN COMMISSION REPORT
Jun 17th, 2008 by Conor McCabe
This is disgraceful, even by the Irish Independent’s standards.
In today’s paper, Fionnan Sheahan wrote an article proclaiming, REVEALED: WHY WE VOTED NO TO LISBON. It went on to say that
ALMOST three-quarters of people who voted ‘No’ in the Lisbon Treaty referendum mistakenly believed the pact could be easily renegotiated. A major survey of voters conducted by the European Commission immediately after last Thursday’s referendum reveals why a majority of Irish people rejected the treaty. The publication of the first research into the reasons behind the ‘No’ vote comes as Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin desperately attempt to garner support across the EU to help Ireland resolve the crisis caused by the result
It goes on…
The poll of 2,000 voters found:- Young people voted ‘No’ by a margin of two to one.
- The vast majority of women voted ‘No’.
- A large number of people who do not vote in general elections voted.
- People who did not understand the treaty voted ‘No’.
- The huge influx of immigrants into the country was a factor in the ‘No’ vote.
- More than 70pc of ‘No’ voters thought a second treaty would be negotiated.
I tried to find the report on the European Commission’s website, but to no avail. So I emailed them. This is what I said:
Hello,my name is Conor McCabe and I am a citizen of Ireland. One of our national newspapers has a report today that the European Commission commissioned a survey of the reason why people voted no, and that 75% of people voted no because they believed the treaty could be renegotiated. I would be grateful if you could send me a link to the report as I would like to read it.
Kind regards,
Conor McCabe
And this is the reply I got from the European Commission:
Hi Conor,the report has not yet been published, what’s in the press did not come from us.
- We are still in the process of compiling and collating the data
- We will publish the results when we are satisfied that they are reliable and accurate
- We expect that to be this week.
Regards
COMM WEB TEAM
No report has been published. The data has not been checked.The figures and conclusions from the ‘published’ report that the Independent printed today, saying that it came from the European Commission, came from anywhere but the Commission.
Unsubstantiated drivel, given credence by the Irish Independent by attaching the European Commission’s name to it.
Shameful.
Ah: that’s what it was. I read that piece and headed over to the Eurobarometer site thinking that it seemed like a very quick turnaround indeed. I was suspicious when I didn’t see the report anywhere but didn’t have the wit to email and verify. What strange behaviour from the Indo, especially playing an unsubstantiated immigration card.
Good quick work there Conor. The Indo is a strange fish sometimes. I gave up buying the Sindo twenty years ago.
I must say, even though I’ve criticised the Indo in the past over pimping the housing market and all that, this is another world altogether. Simply staggering, and they put it on their front page as well. Immigration and confusion, and saying the European Commission came up with it. Absolutely disgraceful.
[…] yesterday’s Irish Independent piece, which gave the impression that people voted No to renegotiate, the Irish Times has just released […]
Why do you believe the Commission and not the Indo? Any reason for that?
Well the Indo said that they got it from the Commission, and the commission are saying they didn’t give anything out to anyone. It’s a case of the Indo saying there’s a published EU commission report, and the EU commission saying there’s no such thing as of yet.
Was trying to find that myself. Nice work
Cheers Simon.
[…] at Irish Election picks up the thread. Conor at Dublin Opinion got there Tuesday morning, as did we. Mick Fealty also picks up the story at […]
[…] according to the two national newspapers, has 15-17 yr olds voting, has a totality of 105%, and has not as of yet been published, even though the Irish Independent told us all that it had last […]