User:Jnestorius/National Platform


<National Platform

The National Platform for EU Research and Information Centre
Formation1986
TypeNGO, Pressure Group
HeadquartersDublin, Ireland
Secretary
Anthony Coughlan
Websitehttp://www.nationalplatform.org

The National Platform for EU Research and Information Centre shortened to National Platform is an Irish Eurosceptic lobby group which campaigns against greater European Union integration, and against a Federal superstate. It is a member of the Europeans United for Democracy.

Its motto is For a Europe of Independent Democratic Co-Operating Nation States and has used phrases like Citizens for a Europe of independent democratic co-operating countries, and against the development of a single EU State.

The secretary of the National Platform research and information group is Anthony Coughlan, senior lecturer Emeritus in social policy at Trinity College Dublin.[1] The group has made submissions to various government forums on EU policy such as the National Forum on Europe[2] Its members also issued press releases, submitted articles to various publications[3] and contributed to debates on radio and television prior to the referenda on the Nice Treaty and for the Lisbon Treaty as well as sharing platforms with other like minded groupings.

On Friday 21 November 2008 National Platform head Anthony Couglan[4] addressed the Oireachtas committee examining the fallout from the Lisbon NO vote.[5] At the same time, they also pledged to campaign against a re-run of the referendum.[6]



History

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The Wolfe Tone Society founded in Dublin in 1964 provided a forum for Irish Marxists and physical force republicans to share ideas and formulate policies and campaign strategies.[7] Members included economist Anthony Coughlan and Raymond Crotty, an agricultural economist and farmer.[8] After the Republican Movement split at the turn of 1969–70, Coughlan and Crotty left the Wolfe Tone Society and started the Common Market Study Group (CMSG),[n 1] which published a series pamphlets opposing Ireland's proposed membership of the European Communities.[9] Piechnick asserts that the CMSG was a front for the Wolfe Tone Society intended to avoid alienating potential supporters sympathetic to the CMSG's Euroscepticism but opposed to the Wolfe Tone Society's Marxism and republicanism.[10] In May 1971 the CMSG announced the formation of the Common Market Defence Campaign as a mass-membership sister organisation to campaign against the 1972 European Communities accession referendum.[11] After the referndum was passed and Ireland joined the European Communities, the Common Market Defence Campaign was renamed the Irish Sovereignty Movement (ISM).[12] The ISM made a presentation to the New Ireland Forum in October 1983.[13] In 1986 in Crotty v. An Taoiseach the Irish Supreme Court ruled that the Oireachtas's ratification of the Single European Act (SEA) was unconstitutional as it impinged on national sovereignty.[14] The SEA was ratified after a 1987 referendum against which the ISM campaigned unsuccessfully;[15] nonetheless the Crotty ruling means that later treaties deepening the European Union must be ratified by referendum rather than merely by Oireachtas.[16] In 1986 the ISM was renamed the National Platform for EU Research and Information Centre, usually shortened to "National Platform".[17]

Publications

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Common Market Study Group
  • Coughlan, Anthony (1970). The Common Market : why Ireland should not join. Common Market Study Group.
  • Crotty, Raymond (1971). Irish agriculture and the Common Market : the consequences and the alternatives. Common Market Study Group.
  • Coughlan, Anthony (1972). Ireland and the Common Market : the alternatives to membership. Common Market Study Group.
  • Ó Snodaigh, Pádraig (1972). Ireland and the Common Market: a second Act of Union?. Common Market Study Group.
  • O'Connell, Emmett (1972). Ireland and the EEC : the consequences of monetary union and its effects on peripheral regions. Common Market Study Group.
  • Nevin, Edward T.; Moynagh, James (1972). The Common Market, yes or no! : the economic and political implications. Common Market Study Group.
  • McDyer, James (1972). Some reasons for voting for and against the EEC on Wednesday next. Common Market Study Group.
Irish Sovereignty Movement
  • Bennett, Jack (1973). The Northern conflict & British power. Dublin: Irish Sovereignty Movement.
  • Coughlan, Anthony (1974). The way to peace in Ireland : the necessity for a British commitment to end the Union. Dublin: Irish Sovereignty Movement.
  • Coughlan, Anthony (1979). The EEC: Ireland and the making of a superpower. Dublin: Irish Sovereignty Movement.
  • Common market comment. Dublin: Irish Sovereignty Movement. 1979–. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  • An appeal to British Labour. Dublin: Irish Sovereignty Movement. 1981.
  • Falk, Richard A (1985). Neutrality, international law and the nuclear arms race: what Ireland can do. Dublin: Irish Sovereignty Movement.
  • Coughlan, Anthony (1986). EEC political union : menace to Irish neutrality and independence. Dublin: Irish Sovereignty Movement.

Footnotes

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  1. ^ "Common Market" was a common name for the European Economic Community (EEC), whose institutions under the 1967 Merger Treaty subsumed those of the legally separate European Coal and Steel Community and European Atomic Energy Community.

References

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Sources

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Citations

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  1. ^ Video of Anthony Coughlan speaking on behalf of the National Platform - Election Broadcast
  2. ^ National Forum for Europe Archived 20 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Turning us into real EU citizens by Anthony Coughlan, Munster Express, Friday, 13 June 2008
  4. ^ Video of Anthony Coughlan speaking at the Forum for Europe www.youtube.com
  5. ^ Govt accused of failing to respect Lisbon vote, Irish Independent, Friday 21 November 2008
  6. ^ Taoiseach Cowen's spoofery on Lisbon Two could make the Irish media and people the laughing stock of Europe. statement by Anthony Coughlan National Platform, Secretary Archived 2 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Piechnick 2016 p.zzz
  8. ^ Piechnick 2016 p.zzz
  9. ^ Piechnick 2016 p.zzz
  10. ^ Piechnick 2016 pp.138–139
  11. ^ Piechnick 2016 p.zzz
  12. ^ Piechnick 2016 p.zzz
  13. ^ New Ireland Forum (2 May 1984). "Report". Stationery Office. pp. Appendix 1: Oral Presentations. Retrieved 22 February 2018. {{cite web}}: Invalid |nopp=Y (help); Unknown parameter |nopp= ignored (|no-pp= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Piechnick 2016 p.zzz
  15. ^ Piechnick 2016 p.zzz
  16. ^ Piechnick 2016 p.zzz
  17. ^ Piechnick 2016 p.zzz

Category:Political advocacy groups in the Republic of Ireland Category:Euroscepticism in Ireland Category:1971 establishments in Ireland