JOHN BERGIN,
Sir, - "While nobody opposes EU enlargement, we need an honest debate on its costs," writes Anthony Coughlan (Opinion, June 24th). Honesty might begin with an admission by Mr Coughlan that some Irish voters almost certainly do oppose EU enlargement, and that some also experience feelings of fear and hostility towards nationals of other countries in Ireland. In an honest debate, Mr Coughlan would surely admit the probability that most such voters are opposed to the Nice Treaty.
Mr Coughlan, of course, is not liable to censure merely because some opposition to Nice may spring from sentiments which he presumably does not share. He is, however, responsible for the language he chooses when discussing the "costs" of enlargement. He mentions "two million Polish farmers", and "business moving eastward, where wages are one-third of ours, and eastern workers moving westward". While there is perhaps no single objectionable word here, these phrases have an unpleasant ring reminiscent of the crude "You Will Lose Money, Jobs, Power" poster, so widely used in last year's campaign.
It is depressing that most campaigners against the Nice Treaty appear unwilling to acknowledge that some of their support last year probably came from anti-foreigner feeling. It is disturbing when one of the most prominent campaigners uses language which might give rise to the suspicion that he is deliberately mobilising such feeling for a No vote. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN BERGIN,
Roundhills,
Athy,
Co Kildare.
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Sir, - "There's no such thing as a free lunch" was Denis Coghlan's conclusion, writing about the Dáil debate on the forthcoming referendum (The Irish Times, June 28th) This is the subliminal message which the EU establishment is using to exert moral pressure on the Irish electorate to approve the Nice Treaty. The logic is that Ireland has gained so much from the EU that we should be prepared to submit to the bidding of its political and bureaucratic masters.
Maybe.
However, to suggest that it has been all give by the EU and all take by Ireland is a gross misrepresentation. On entry to the EEC, as it was then, Ireland brought with it 132,000 square miles of sea and its associated fishery resources and handed them on a plate to be carved up by the Commission's bureaucrats. In the years since we joined, our EU "partners" have helped themselves to almost 2 billion euro a year of fish from Irish waters without a thought for the conservation of stocks or the damage to the marine ecosystem caused by the scandalously wasted "by-catch" which is shovelled overboard.
Our "free lunch" in structural funds was paid for with the plundering of our fish stocks. Ironically, the Commissioner now delivers regular lectures to the Irish Minister on the need for their conservation.
The Nice Treaty has much in its favour, but let's not be swayed by the selective and self-serving propaganda that we are considered a selfish member of the Community. If we were so influenced, we might be better described as gullible. - Yours, etc.,
PAUL MILNE,
Dublin Road,
Sutton,
Dublin 13.
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Sir, - Dear old Vincent Browne (Opinion, June 26th). He thinks that the EU is "an undemocratic project", but he is also "in favour of the European project"!
The world in which the rest of us actually live is quite extraordinarily undemocratic - in the most practical ways. Every second or third week during most of this year, jobs have been cut in "Irish" businesses owned by transnationals. The decision to let some hundreds of people go is being taken, not in an accountable, "open" democratic forum, but by faceless, anonymous financial experts who crunch figures in Pittsburgh or somewhere else far from our shores. Irish taoisigh and do-gooders can jump up and down as much as they like, but nothing will happen about Sellafield so long as the British (or any other) government can put "the national interest" above the interests of the regional or global community. Little countries can talk as much as they like about national sovereignty but if they get in the way of somebody with more tanks and aircraft, they will simply end up digging rubble and dust.
I support the European project because it is a serious attempt to bring the rule of law, democracy and the interests of a broader community into the way in which we run our human affairs on this little rock in space.
That view is shared by the peoples of central, eastern and south-eastern Europe who want to be part of the EU. They, after all, know more about the denial of democracy than Vincent Browne or I ever can.
The democratisation and constitutionalisation of Europe have been fought every inch of the way by national governments, including Irish governments. The Convention on the Future of Europe will make it less easy for them to play games. Ironically, the No vote last year has undoubtedly given the Convention more bite than it would have had.
As a long-term, committed Europhile, I have no problem in stating that the decision of over 50 per cent of "the Irish people" not to express any opinion on Nice last year served as a much needed application of force majeure to the most tender areas of the Euro-élite's psyche and physiology. The European Union of July 2002 is politically very different from what it was in June 2001. What is now at issue is whether we are just "spoilers" or whether, having made our point, we are prepared to get back into the game and start scoring. - Yours, etc.,
MAURICE O'CONNELL,
Wood Dale View,
Ballycullen,
Dublin 24.
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Sir, - Sinn Féin's Cllr Matt Carthy writes (June 28th) that "perhaps the most compelling reason for voting No to the Nice Treaty is that the Irish people have already done so".
Given that the Irish people have repeatedly voted in favour of a democratic settlement on issues pertaining to the relationship between Northern Ireland and this Republic, does Cllr Carthy now believe that that particular issue is settled for all time? Of course not.
Time moves on and circumstances change. Ireland is now a confident player on the European stage. Nice is not perfect, nor is the Good Friday Agreement, nor are most things in life. We build, we seek better, and we make progress. Now is the time for the truly progressive in Irish life to take a stand by voting Yes next October. - Yours, etc.,
Cllr DERMOT LACEY,
Beech Hill Drive,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.
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Sir, - Whinging and disingenuous we are, it is said. Perhaps instead of name-calling, the Government would explain why we would benefit from an enlarged Europe.
At present we know that an enlarged Europe will increase the existing democratic deficit and reduce our voting powers - and it will cost us plenty to integrate East European countries.
On the positive side, however, the enlarged labour market will give greater scope to our tax-compliant business people to hire cheap labour, to increase working hours on the one hand, and increase part-time working on the other. It will also allow them and the Irish ranchers to buy into and destroy the small farms and "uneconomic" industries of Eastern Europe, thereby creating more cheap labour.
Our IT sector can make good use of the highly educated English-speaking graduates who would be happy to work for half the Irish corporate labour wage, if, of course, they don't decide to move the whole shebang east.
An enlarged Europe means the wealthy can use their money to buy political influence and then employ this influence to accumulate more money over a larger area. It is called monopoly capitalism and it is about reducing all aspects of life to economy for economy's sake. It seems to me that to ask any worker to vote for this would be like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas. - Yours, etc.,
SIMON O'DONNELL,
Church Place,
Rathmines,
Dublin 6.
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Sir, - A very simple question for the Taoiseach requiring only a Yes or No reply. Is the result of the referendum on the Nice Treaty valid? - Yours, etc.,
MIKE O'CARROLL,
Newtown Heights,
Tramore,
Co Waterford.