EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the latest news and campaign moves, squabbles and – hopefully – useful tidbits of information as we face into the 31 May Fiscal Compact referendum.
(If you just want to make up your mind by yourself, you can read TheJournal.ie’s layman’s guide to the treaty).
WHAT’S NEW?
Libertas founder and No vote campaigner Declan Ganley has denied claims that there is a conflict of interest in his involvement in a Swiss asset management fund and his advocating of a No vote on the 31 May. He was responding to a claim from Fine Gael’s Paschal Donohue, calling the claim “a lie”.
Otherwise, it’s been a day of relative quiet in the campaign trenches, with both sides keeping their heads down ahead of the RTÉ Frontline debate at 9.35pm. We’ll be liveblogging all the action here at TheJournal.ie as Eamon Gilmore, Mary Lou McDonald, Declan Ganley and Norah Casey go head-to-head.
One man who doesn’t know the meaning of keeping his head down is Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary. He made his position perfectly clear this morning, telling CNBC he’d be voting Yes and claiming: “When you look at the array of idiots and lunatics on the No side, I wouldn’t want to be in any club that would have that lot as a member.”
Meanwhile, the Government has been accused of remaining “unable to identify any positive benefits” of the Treaty by Sinn Féin’s Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, who said that the Yes campaign had been left behind by developments across the EU.
Enda Kenny ran into protests while attending an event at a Donegal school – with Newstalk reporting that his car was pelted with eggs by demonstrators.
It’s been officially confirmed that ballot-counting will begin as usual at 9am on Friday, June 1. As is traditional, the media scrum will be descending on Dublin Castle for the occasion.
DUBIOUS VOTER OF THE DAY
Well, strictly speaking this is from yesterday, when Ógra Fianna Fáil launched their campaign. It looks like they might have a bit more work to do to convince this council worker. (Photo: Conor McCabe Photography)
MOST UNMISTAKEABLY IRISH WEATHER IN A CAMPAIGN VIDEO OF THE DAY
Hats (and wellies) off to these redoubtable Sinn Féin volunteers, who assembled on Sandymount Strand in frankly miserable conditions for this promotional spot:
YouTube/sinnfeinireland
CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT OF THE DAY-EYE-AY-EYE-AY
Sharon Shannon is voting Yes, according to the Alliance for Ireland ad in today’s Irish Independent. (Photo: TheJournal.ie)
DEFINITELY NOT SCAREMONGERING TWEET OF THE DAY
Anything but that…
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