BRENDAN RYAN,
Sir, - For the first time in my life I will be voting Yes in an EU-related referendum. I made my position clear during the Seanad debate, but since you chose not to report the contributions of any of the Labour speakers in that debate I would like to explain why.
I believe the expansion of the EU is both a good and necessary thing and we in Ireland must be prepared to pay our share of the costs of making that happen. I believe rejection of the Nice Treaty at this stage, while not making expansion impossible, would slow it down dramatically. In the meantime the people of the applicant countries who have suffered a lot as they adjust to meet the conditions of EU membership would suffer further and see the benefits of EU membership at the very best seriously delayed. Such added pain and delay could well jeopardise the outcome of referenda on EU membership in all those countries. That would be bad for those countries and could also threaten the stability of Europe.
Additionally, arguments used during the first referendum have been disposed of on this occasion, largely through the efforts of the Labour Party. The concern about a creeping military alliance must be allayed by the proposed constitutional amendment, an amendment which was resisted until very late in the day by the Government. The genuine concern about the murkiness of the EU decision-making process will be addressed when the Labour Party's European Union Bill finally passes into law. That means that, contrary to what others say, circumstances have changed.
And, as one who supported the repeated efforts to change our prohibition on divorce, I can have no objections to repeated referendums on identical subjects, particularly when circumstances, either political or otherwise, change.
My decision to vote Yes was made a lot easier by the antics of various members of the No campaign. I find the "flood of immigrants" argument repulsive and indeed unworthy of many who are active in the No campaign. I for one would be unhappy to be in the political company of the racist lobby in this country - a lobby with which we in Cork are only too familiar. There may be causes of such profound importance that we have to tolerate such allies, but for me Nice isn't one.
Additionally, recent utterances on what are called the "economic implications" of Nice are equally decisive. The argument that enhanced co-operation would somehow threaten our corporate tax status is a case in point. It is first of all nonsense, but given that the Green Party believes our corporate tax rates are too low (and I agree with them) I'm not sure how they feel about this argument. Perhaps the various other members of the left in the No campaign might let us know what they think about current levels of corporate taxation. Maybe that's another bit of the "No to Nice" campaign from which they'll have to dissociate themselves!
Other arguments raised, particularly by the National Platform, while ostensibly about Nice are in fact arguments against expansion. I'm referring to arguments about structural funds, and about capital flows in particular. Such lack of generosity and willingness to share our considerable prosperity with countries who have suffered so much over the past century are unworthy of socialists, or of the Green movement that I have come to respect. I have come to expect them from the farming community in particular, but from the assembled ranks of the Irish radical left I did expect better.
Nice is not perfect. There are things in it that I wish weren't there. It was negotiated on our behalf by a Government whose incompetence is now obvious to all. But rejecting it at this stage won't change the Government and won't change Nice. It will simply make the conditions of millions of people in the applicant countries more uncomfortable, and give encouragement to some of the nastiest forces that have surfaced in Irish and European politics in recent years.
I for one have no desire to vindicate the racists, xenophobes and isolationists in our midst. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDAN RYAN, Seanad Éireann, Dublin 2.
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Sir, - Fianna Fail and their spin-doctors have brought out a new detergent. It is a mind-washing solution, which is made up of an ounce of fact, dissolved in a gallon of hogwash.
How in God's name could the Irish people believe a single word our Government is telling us abut the importance of voting Yes to Nice when we see the way they have lied to us before and since the election?
People should not forget the old saying: "Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me". Vote No. - Yours, etc.,
JAMES O'CONNOR, The Orchard, Rosslare.
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A chara, - I am appalled by the Young Fine Gael pro-Nice Treaty campaign posters. It seems they are aimed at younger voters, but I am a 21-year-old university student and I find those posters particularly offensive.
Irish taste and respect seem to have been replaced by utter disregard and intolerance for other people's views and concepts. Why do we continue to degrade ourselves in a country where the possibilities are endless? - Is mise,
MAIREAD MORIARTY, Strand Street, Tralee, Co Kerry.
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Sir, - I am having difficulty interpreting the Young Fine Gael referendum poster. Will Ireland be screwing the EU, or will the EU be screwing Ireland? - Yours, etc.,
BARRY KEHOE, Stockton Park, Castleknock, Dublin 15.