Voting Fraud in Ireland? What would "Wheeliebingate' mean for Lisbon 2 vote?

WHEELIEBINGATE
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An angry young Irish politician is outraged over the lack of progress in the investigation into the incident known as 'Wheeliebingate' - where 3,000 of his votes in last June’s European Elections were incorrectly attributed to another in the Ireland North West constituency.


MARGIN

Not a big deal, you say? Consider these facts;
The Irish Divorce Referendum of 1995 the deciding margin was 9, 114 votes.
If the Republic of Ireland is the only country to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, that will utterly change the nature of the European Union for all of its 500 million inhabitants.

Now Irish voters are being warned to be concerned whether their votes during the upcoming Lisbon Treaty Referendum will be allocated correctly.
28 year old resident of Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, Fiachra Ó Luain has this week written to the Republic of Ireland’s Top Cop, Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, complaining that the police officer put in charge of the investigation, was the same Garda who was in charge of the European election count when the votes originally went missing. Ó Luain has complained that so far, the Garda in question has been professionally inert in his attempts to gather further statements and investigate the matter.

Adding changes to Lisbon AFTER voting Yes?

So, let's get this straight, it's the same Treaty. They promise to fix it, AFTER we vote.

Wow, the best 'election promise' yet. I must try this scam meself.

I have a car to sell, I bring it to you, you look at it, and say no thanks.

A short time later,I come back uninvited with the same car. I'm not happy you said no, and the other guys in the car dealership are giving me a hard time. So here I am, with the same car, right down to the fluffy dice.

- Ah, go on buy it.
"But there's things wrong with it" You tell me.
- I'll fix them sure I will.
"Okay, go on fix them".
- Ah, just buy it first, and I'll fix it later.
"and is it in the contract of sale that you would fix them later?"
- Ah, no. Trust me. I'm a salesman. I wouldn't lie.

Wouldn't your reply be along the lines of
"Exactly how thick do you think I am? Get out, take your dodgy car. I don't want to see it again" ?

Should they even be allowed re-run the Lisbon referendum?

A lot of people feel it's undemocratic, even a lot of those who voted "Yes" the first time.
Of course some people, when a vote doesn't go their way, welcome the chance to just vote again, ignoring the fact that it's not democratic.

Some argue that the government has a mandate to re-run it, supposedly cos they support it as do most MEPs we elected. (discussed that in a previous post)
But that's irrelevant. As a result of the Crotty Case, the decision to ratify Treaties like this is not a decision for the government, but one for the people to decide by referendum.
So, it was our decision and we took it, looked at it, and said 'No'.

A lot of people on the pro-Lisbon side, have been arguing that the government has every right to keep pursuing a policy of asking us again, "because circumstances have changed" or in some cases, blatantly stating that they should ask until we say 'yes', because really, we're better off saying 'yes'. Cos obviously, the politicians know better, and the referendum is really just supposed to us giving a rubber stamp to the government's decision, and the expensive voting day is just down to that gurrier Crotty...

First off, apart from being insulting, that's also very dangerous for democracy, and it's bigger than the Lisbon Treaty problem itself.

Let's knuckle down to the hard work for 2nd Lisbon rejection

We can expect plenty of hype, scaremongering and bullying from the YES side.
There will be lots of doom and gloom threated about the consequences of a NO vote.
Of course, we'll still be in the EU, and we'll still be an equal partner to the other countries and they'll just have to work with us, but it's amazing how many people seem to think otherwise.

And of course they have the recession to help fuel that fear, and dangle the idea that the Lisbon Treaty will fix it.

They can point to the elimination of Declan Ganley (the fake figurehead of the NO vote) as some sort of evidence that people have changed their minds. When of course, we want neither "Lisbon nor Libertas" and Declan Ganley's vote on Lisbon still carries the same weight as yours, mine, Brian Cowen's or any Irish MEP.

We'll hear loads about the 'mandate' for the No side being lost.
Mandate? Isn't that something you give to representatives when they vote on an issue instead of the public? This is a referendum, we all get to vote. We're not delegating it.
We have to get that idea into people's heads, it's YOUR VOTE, not theirs, and their just ticked off that they can't use their whip system to get people to vote in line, like they do in the Dáil.

Change the mechanics of Democracy

Isn't it well past time we changed the mechanics of democracy in this country to stop the current system which is morally and ideologically bankrupt (and has bankrupted many of us).

I would propose a few major changes to start with.

1. Introduce a system whereby the electorate can FIRE a politician, rather than waiting for the next election. They work for us, on a contract basis. As their employers, we should be able to fire them for serious misconduct like using state assets to benefit themselves or their buddies, or , y'know involving us in illegal wars.

2. Get rid of the systems of co-opting when a seat is vacated.

3. Set up a system that allows Citizens to propose referenda.

4. The Ceann Comhairle position should not be filled by a TD, nor an appointee of the government.

5. The gerrymandered rotten borough that calls itself Seanad Eireann should discover the joys of universal suffrage. After all, this is the 21st Century.

Shell Spin and more hot air than gas.

Between TV3's Paul Williams Hatchet job, and the spin doctors we heard on Pat Kenny's show, one would be forgiven for thinking that the Shell to Sea campaign was made up of a mixture of Nazis, Stalinists, and luddites who parachuted into the area.
We've seen the interviewers let biased spin doctors set the frame for the argument with unfounded and unchecked claims.
What they all want to dance around is the fact that in a little known deal, the government of the day simply signed away all claims to the Corrib Gas field.
Previously, the State automatically got 50% of any oil or gas found in our territorial waters.
They then lowered the tax rate and gave generous tax breaks.
Added to that, the group extracting the gas are under no obligation to supply any of it to Bord Gais. They can export all of it to the highest bidder if they like.

These points were not raised in Paul Williams' programme. In fact the Pro-Shell talking heads suggested the exact opposite to be true - that this arrangement gave us a secure cheap source of gas.

Despite the amount of freely available photos and videos of Garda brutality against the locals, Mr. Williams, dismissed claims of Garda brutality, by referring to the Garda's own internal investigations which cleared their colleagues of any wrongdoing.
But would we expect any better from a 'crime reporter' who made a career of being spoon fed from the Garda Press Office?