Madam, - The ESRI projects that in 2009 Ireland will breach the 3 per cent budget deficit limit imposed by the EU stability and growth pact. Eurozone members in breach of this limit can be subjected to fines and other penalties.
What chance now that our German and French benefactors will show us some leniency when we are found to be in breach? What chance now that Dr Merkel and Mr Sarkozy will show any willingness to renegotiate Lisbon, having already publicly "excluded" the possibility? None in both cases.
Dear me, how quickly and carelessly we have exhausted EU goodwill. At best, the No side was soft-headed in assuring the gullible that the Government could easily "negotiate a better deal".
At worst (and more likely), they knew it would be impossible and were simply being destructive. The No did not mean "no consequences". - Yours, etc,
CONOR SEXTON,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.
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Madam, - Many Government politicians are asking why, oh why did people vote No to Lisbon. Well, I ask, why did people vote Yes? I'm sure the Yes vote was also prompted by all kinds of reasons.
Fianna Fáil supporters voted Yes, because they were asked to do so. Look at the result from Brian Cowen's constituency. Was that a rational Yes?
Many company directors voted Yes to avail of cheap foreign labour. Landlords voted Yes, hoping to have even more foreign tenants. Politicians voted Yes, just to stay on the gravy train. Many others voted Yes just to be liked.
By the way, I voted No because of VRT on motor cars! You see, I believe in the European project even more than our Government does. - Yours, etc,
JIMMY GOLLOGLY,
Racecourse Road,
Dundalk,
Co Louth.
****
Madam, - There are two sides to any lie. There's the lie told: Libertas talking about children being taken at age three, Coir's forced abortion, prostitution, one-child family, whatever else you're having, PANA's claim of conscription into a European army and, the biggest of all, the claim that Sinn Féin is a pro-European party.
Then there's the lie received. Many Irish people weighed 35 years of experience within the European Union on one side and, without a single shred of evidence to support any the claims of the No side, decided to believe the lies.
As a pro-European, I've seen Ireland grow in confidence, income and infrastructure within the Union during the longest period of peace and economic growth in modern times across the continent. The successful integration of the old Warsaw Pact countries without war or disaster was a particular high point.
Of course our membership of the EU has been far from perfect; but the bulk of our problems today - the shambles of health and education, our pathetic, union-strangled public transport services, the utter mess we have made of spatial, energy and broadband planning - are entirely of our own making. Indeed, if we had followed continental European models in these areas, we would not be besieged by the problems we face today.
I certainly don't relish being out of the euro and out of the Union facing the storm of global recession, peak-oil, and high interest rates; but if we have not "got" what the European Project is about after two generations, it's unlikely we are going to get it now.
The people have spoken; that's the end of it and there should certainly be no second referendum. To paraphrase the Bob Dylan if we can't lend a hand (in building a better Europe), we should get out of the road. - Yours, etc,
GARY O'CALLAGHAN,
Avondale Crescent,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.
****
Madam, - That Caroline Lynch (June 23rd) should be so lucky as to be in the same camp as Máire and Jerry O'Mahony! Their commitment and enthusiasm as nonagenarians put most of us to shame. Long may they continue to promote the ideals and values that, thank God, still attract many people in Ireland today. - Yours, etc,
(Mrs) MARY STEWART,
Donegal Town,
Co Donegal.
****
Madam, - Patrick Pye (June 24th) voted No because of the young Ratzinger's experience in Nazi Germany. One of the reasons I voted Yes was because I don't want the old Ratzinger, his organised Catholic Church and his committed followers taking over our political agenda again. - Yours, etc,
PATRICK O'BYRNE,
Shandon Crescent,
Dublin 7.
****
Madam, - Robert Ballagh's reference to Vidkun Quisling (June 20th) is both extraordinary and disgusting. It highlights the "us and them" siege mentality of Mr Ballagh, who would appear to see Europe and Ireland as opposites. He compares those who have negotiated a complex yet boring deal on the European institutions to a traitor whose actions led directly to the death of thousands of his fellow citizens.
Mr Ballagh's comparison is morally repugnant. He has shown that he has no respect for the dead by using them as leverage in a debate. - Is mise,
TOM NEVILLE,
Glencairn Grove,
Leopardstown,
Dublin 18.
****
Madam, - The Lisbon referendum should have been preceded by a Dáil debate, with a free vote.
In the Dáil the two sides could confront each other directly. Misstatements would be immediately challenged and put right. Difficulties could be explained and ambiguities cleared up. Ordinary citizens, watching on TV, would be able to form their own estimates on the credibility of the speakers and decide which to follow.
Another point: this procedure would go some way towards strengthening the authority of the Dáil, which has been bypassed by the party campaigners.
I realise that it's a bit late in the day to say all this, but there may be a next time. - Yours, etc,
GF DALTON,
Woodlawn Park,
Lower Mounttown,
Dun Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.
****
Madam, - Leo Rickard (June 24th) hits the button with regard to the gradual destruction of our once proud fishing industry by EU diktat. He could also have pointed to the demise of another of our great indigenous industries - the growing of beet for sugar production.
These considerations must surely have had a lot to do with the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. - Yours, etc,
CHRIS O'REILLY,
Prior Park Hill,
Clonmel,
Co Tipperary.
****
Madam, - Last year I came over to Dublin for a weekend and stayed in one of the many hotels in Gardiner Street.
I remembered that 60 years before, when a Trinity College student, I would often walk up that very street to visit a friend who lived in Mountjoy Square and I recalled the swarms of barefoot children and the women sitting listless on their doorsteps, with rugs on their shoulders in the way of shawls.
Even more heart-rending was walking in some other streets where every second shop was a pawn-shop and where cigarettes were sold singly and coal by the pound.
I was so happy, 60 years after, to see the well-fed, well-clad Dubliners driving around in their brand new cars and the glittering office blocks sprouting all along the Liffey. Then I was proud of Europe and of us European citizens who had given Ireland the right push at the right moment.
No wonder that now, after the No vote, I am somewhat disappointed and puzzled: are we considered by the Irish as potential enemies to their independence or has nostalgia for the good, bad old days been stronger than the lure of present-day fleshpots? - Yours, etc,
BERNARD LE GROS,
Caen,
France.
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Madam,- Please allow the dirty linen of the Lisbon Treaty to be washed out by the EU ministers, and revert to letters on other subjects.- Yours, etc,
TONY BAKER,
Brennanstown,
Cabinteely,
Co Dublin.