Éamon Gilmore, Lisbon II, And Selective Memory Syndrome

Poor oul Éamon Gilmore. That doyen of the Liberal Left has been caught out again with his much-discussed and seemingly persistent Selective Memory Syndrome. Is there not something we can do for him, folks? A raffle or telethon to raise some research money?

(Remember telethons? Ahhh, the 1980s…).

According to the latest Oirish Wikileaks in your super, soaraway Irish Sun Irish Independent,

TÁNAISTE Eamon Gilmore privately told US diplomats he would support the holding of a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty — despite publicly saying the opposite, a leaked embassy cable reveals.

In a candid disclosure that will prove embarrassing for the Labour Party leader, a leaked US Embassy cable says he admitted a “public posture” of opposition to a second referendum because it was “politically necessary”.

At the same time, Mr Gilmore fully expected a second referendum and said he would support it.

After the No vote in the first Lisbon referendum in June 2008, the Labour leader said the “Lisbon Treaty is dead” and opposed a second referendum being held.

But Mr Gilmore presented a different scenario a month later to US embassy staff

“Gilmore, who has led calls against a second referendum, has told the embassy separately that he fully expects, and would support, holding a second referendum in 2009. He explained his public posture of opposition to a second referendum as ‘politically necessary’ for the time being,” the Ambassador said in a ‘confidential’ dispatch sent to his colleagues in Washington and across the EU.

Ooopsies! Ah well, it could be worse. At least everyone seems to have forgiven Éamon for his previous sticky situations resulting from a faulty memory. Benefit of the doubt, hey? But then much of the Labour Party leadership seem to have had similar issues with a, um, troubled past.