Sir, – Apparently Michael Noonan is worried that a British exit from the EU could reduce Ireland's economic growth by 1.2 per cent over two years, potentially wiping out much of the Government's "fiscal space" ("Brexit has potential to wipe out Government's fiscal space", June 21st).
This is surely a drop in the ocean when he and his colleagues are quite happy to pay around €8 billion every year on our behalf in interest payments for private banking debts not of our making, not to mention the loss of €64 billion of our money pumped in to shore up our toxic banks at the behest of our EU masters.
Mr Noonan shouldn’t worry, as clearly the Irish people in the recent past have demonstrated an infinite fiscal capacity to cope with such little setbacks and for absorbing vast extraneous and dubious debts to help our European partners in their time of great need. – Yours, etc,
JOHN LEAHY,
Cork.
Sir, – Bill O'Rourke is right to say that UK voters know that more local control will lead to some economic loss (June 22nd). There is an Irish parallel, in that the parliamentary debates on the 1914 and 1920 Home Rule Acts pondered by how much the new entity should be supported, as it would be strapped for cash. Full sovereignty would be even more expensive for the Irish taxpayer.
However from 1910 to 1923 the Irish electorate was mostly convinced that an unknowably large “price to pay” was worth it, in terms of pride and self-esteem gained.
It seems a tad ironic that, having spent millions on commemorating 1916 and the complete break with London, just two months later the Government is spending further sums on persuading the UK to stay as close as possible. Clearly, every tourism flop requires a pragmatic flip. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK GUINNESS,
Naas, Co Kildare.
A chara, – It’s nice to see members of the House of Lords, who can vote in British referendums but not in elections, experiencing the joys of democracy. – Is mise,
LOMAN Ó LOINGSIGH,
Dublin 24.
Sir, – As a British person long based in Ireland, so long in fact that I am ineligible to vote in the EU referendum, I feel compelled to comment on the Leave side’s scurrilous focus on the notion of “uncontrolled” immigration into Britain.
“Mass immigration” today is, as I see it, about offering refuge to large numbers of people from war-torn countries (wars that Britain helped create, by the way) and is the Christian thing to do; it is also about the freedom of movement of workers within the EU, which is a very positive principle that British people gain from as much as anyone.
Multiculturalism or the mixing of the races and nationalities is not the problem facing UK citizens. The problem is the growing inequality gap between the haves and have-nots, the educated and uneducated.
The EU needs to be fundamentally reformed to deal with this, certainly. But I guarantee you that Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson have no solution for inequality, or even, I suspect, any problem with it. – Yours, etc,
JOE McCARTHY,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – John Bruton is not correct that membership of the European Economic Area precludes curbs on EU immigration ("What will happen if UK leaves EU?", Opinion & Analysis, June 21st).
Liechtenstein, an EEA member since 1995, imposes strict quotas limiting the number of people who can work and live there. This quota system applies to nationals of all EU countries. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Vienna.
Sir, – When many are calling for a more reasoned debate on Brexit, it is disappointing to read Prof Roy Foster's views on some of those he disagrees with ("Johnson and Farage show 'worst of Britain'", June 21st) Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage are, according to Foster, engaging in "repellent opportunism, superficiality and implicit racism". Theresa Villiers, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, is "dimwitted".
Public debate would be all the better if those like Roy Foster would engage with their opponents’ arguments, rather than level accusations as to people’s motives, and stoop to name-calling. – Yours, etc,
RONAN FAHY,
Amsterdam.
Sir, – This referendum seems to be between the Remainians and the Leavites. – Yours, etc,
DOUGLAS BAILEY,
Kilnamanagh, Dublin 24.
Sir, – Fintan O'Toole warns of the self-harm of a Brexit vote that would "offer a jagged razor of incoherent English nationalism to distressed and excluded communities" ("Is England ready for self-government?", June 18th).
Would this be the same Fintan O’Toole who only a few short years ago urged the distressed and excluded Irish people to stand up against Angela Merkel and the EU and burn the bondholders ? – Yours, etc,
KEN ANDREW,
Cobh, Co Cork.
Sir, – We are being told that Britain is a small and vulnerable nation that needs to be part of a bigger union in order to survive, while also being told that if we leave the EU we would wreck the world economy and destroy western civilisation.
The reality is that all that Brexit supporters want is to be able to live in an independent and self-governing nation, something that I would have expected the Irish, of all people, to understand. – Yours, etc,
NEIL ADDISON,
Liverpool.
Sir, – My money is on the bookies calling it correctly. Remain, but only by a nose. – Yours, etc,
MARY MURPHY,
Dublin 8.