Libertas.org

Environment Minister John Gormley has become a late, but very strong entry into the competition for "the most outrageous claim made by a supporter of the Treaty" with his comments today that a "no" vote would be a "crushing blow" to efforts to "save the planet, Libertas Executive Director Naoise Nunn said this afternoon.

Mr. Nunn said that the Minister should withdraw his comments.

"It appears that John Gormley hasn't just drunk the kool-aid, he's taken a bath in it. To use his own words, he is now a full-time inhabitant of "planet Bertie".

This is the man who opposed 96% of this document when it was the EU constitution;

The man who, unlike Libertas, has opposed every EU referendum since 1973;

The man who said in the Sunday Business Post (click here) while opposing Nice:

"The minister's (Brian Cowen) neutrality horse has been flogged to death at this stage. How can we be members of the European Rapid Reaction Force and still claim to be neutral? His case for neutrality now seems to rest exclusively on non-membership of Nato."

But now believes our neutrality is guaranteed.

He is basing his support for Lisbon on 6 words on Climate change that confer absolutely no extra powers on the Union, and as such would not impact the Union if they were not to come into effect.

The only "planet" that will be destroyed by a rejection of Lisbon is "Planet Gormley", and given how badly that planet has been polluted by ambition, it might be no bad thing."