Madam, - I was interested to note that Declan Ganley is scheduled to speak about Ireland's "No" to the Lisbon Treaty to the Heritage Foundation in Washington on July 15th.
The event is entitled, "No Means No: How Ireland Blocked the European Union's Lisbon Treaty" (see www.heritage.org - "Upcoming events").
The Heritage Foundation is a US right-wing think tank based in Washington. I am curious to know whether this conservative foundation had a part in the success of the Libertas "No" campaign and whether it contributed in any way to financing it. - Yours, etc,
J. COOKE, Tassy, Skerries, Co Dublin.
Madam, - John Harvey (July 9th) is correct in saying that our Constitution has been subservient to EU law since we first joined the European Economic Community in 1973.
However, the primacy of EU law applies only in the commercial area of the single market.
Lisbon, through collapsing the three pillars of the Community, would result in this primacy being extended to the areas of justice and home affairs and foreign and security policy - with a few exceptions in the latter case. To reject this change is simply to reject the Lisbon Treaty and not the EU, as he claims. - Yours, etc,
FRANK KEOGHAN, Shanowen Crescent, Dublin 9.
Madam, - I recently returned from Greece and Austria, where I was congratulated and thanked by many friends and strangers in both countries with regard to the Irish "No" vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum. Many people said they too would have voted No, if given the opportunity.
I wonder if many of your readers received similar comments when abroad. - Yours, etc,
NORMA CAIRNS, York Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Just a few words regarding Joe Murray's facetious missive of July 7th with its array of nautical allusions.
May I inform him that his good ship Europa is currently in dry dock undergoing extensive modifications and urgent repair work to its damaged hull. I believe she should be thoroughly seaworthy some time next spring.
And if that recalcitrant "Irish mariner" (the Irish electorate) isn't happy with certain aspects of the work? Well, I'm afraid it'll be a case of having to walk the plank. - Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY, Beacon Hill, Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Alan Dukes (July 3rd), one of the most prominent supporters of the so-called European project, highlights for me the reason why so many people voted No in the recent referendum.
Obviously unaware of the irony, he supports his arguments about EU foreign policy by reminding us that "the Lisbon Treaty maintains the stipulation that foreign policy decisions require unanimity in the EU".
Is Mr Dukes living in the same EU as the rest of us, where the legal necessity for a unanimous vote to ratify the Lisbon treaty has been so casually brushed aside?
Is this hypocrisy, myopia or sheer disdain for the intelligence of the ordinary voter? - Yours, etc,
DESMOND CURLEY, Boyle, Co Roscommon.