Sir, - Responding to the European Commission report recommending that the abolition of intra-EU duty-free sales should go ahead, Mary O'Rourke, Minister for Public Enterprise, asked: "Who governs Europe, the member governments or the Commission?" (The Irish Times, February 18th). Mary O'Rourke knows exactly who runs the EU.
The Council of Ministers voted unanimously to abolish duty-free from 1999. Among these Ministers was Bertie Ahern TD. The Commission is therefore mandated to do so unless the Council of Ministers (i.e. the governments of the member states) decides otherwise. A U-turn on the policy is being resisted by three of the EU governments.
Mary O'Rourke's outburst reveals either a breathtaking ignorance of European law and politics or, worse still, a calculated and cynical attempt to conceal the Taoiseach's responsibility in this regard. Like Tory Euro-sceptics, Irish Ministers travel to Brussels to sign agreements without dispute or argument only to come home and blame our misfortune on perfidious foreigners and unelected bureaucrats.
Meanwhile, the single-market project continues to be scuppered by the legal smuggling that is dutyfree and Ireland remains unprepared for the adverse consequences that the end to dutyfree shopping will have on the cost of our air fares and the profitability of our passenger shipping routes (notably Cork to Cherbourg).
The Minister really should know better. Shame on her! - Yours etc., Leo Varadkar,
Roselawn Road, Dublin 15.