Speaking at a press conference in Brussels this afternoon - Wednesday September 9th organised by Brussels based organisation 'Europe for Ireland', Marian Harkin MEP questioned the responsibility of the Catholic church in allowing 'Alive' Magazine to be distributed when it contains advertising on the Lisbon Treaty that is misleading, false, and disseminates information that is designed to frighten and terrorise people and their families and, in particular, those who have children with special needs or autism.

Marian Harkin said: "The question here is not about a YES or NO to Lisbon - we are all entitled to our different perspectives - the question is about deliberately targeting people in vulnerable situations and printing misleading information. I have had a call from a carers organisation looking for clarification because carers had been calling expressing great concern about the advertisement.

"The advertisement stated that a new legal directive using Article 6 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights will automatically allow the EU to take possession of peoples children, homes and financial savings where those children suffer from autism, special needs etc, and it goes on to say that 'Under the Lisbon Treaty the EU could seize elderly peoples savings and homes and can take children off people who suffer from mild forms of alcoholism or depression: or who do not own a family home'. In fact Article 6 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights states that 'Everyone has the right to liberty and security' and that is all it states. Indeed Article 7 states that 'Everyone has the right to respect for his or her private and family life, home and communications' and further articles assert the right to marry and found a family, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, the right to property, education etc.

"This advertisement in the Alive magazine is deliberately constructed to frighten people, to prey on their insecurities and it is false advertising. There are serious question marks about publishing such an advertisement and about facilitating its distribution. This is particularly serious as the publication claims a circulation of 200, 000 copies much of it distributed through Catholic Church outlets" Marian Harkin concluded.