Sir, - In his response to Garret FitzGerald's statement that itwould be suicidal to vote against the Nice Treaty, Anthony Coughlan(October 9th) once again evokes a world of "big" and "small" EU states- with the former out to "dominate" the latter. The reality of themodern world is that the European Union is made up of two groups: smallcountries which know they are small countries, and big countries someof which do not fully understand that they too, in a globalised system,are also small countries.
But even on his own definition of big/small it is extraordinary thatMr Coughlan wants to reject the Nice Treaty even though a No vote woulddeal a terrible blow to the aspirations of the 10 candidate countries -nine of which are "small" by any definition - to conclude agreements tojoin the EU in Copenhagen in 10 weeks' time. I would not fancy his taskif he has to justify his actions to the peoples of Slovenia, Estonia orthe several other accession states that are smaller than Ireland. Thelarger the Union becomes, the more fanciful any attempt by the largercountries to dominate decision-making. But if Mr Coughlan still hasresidual worries on this score it is always open to him to supportthose in the Convention on The Future of Europe who campaign for thefurther strengthening and democratising of the federal andsupra-national character of the EU institutions rather than theinter-governmental model of decision-making, which is easier for bigcountries to try to manipulate.
Mr Coughlan is also very ill-informed about the impact of the NiceTreaty on the very partial reform of the voting system in the Councilof Ministers. Without the Nice reforms the present voting system in aUnion of 25 states could directly have led to decisions being passedinto EU law against the wishes of majority of EU citizens. How on earthcould that be justified? Even after the Nice Treaty provisions areintroduced, a small country (such as Luxembourg) will enjoy a votingweight in the Council of Ministers (expressed as a ratio to population)eight times greater than that of Germany.
The truth is that Nice maintains - rightly - a pronounced bias inthe voting system in favour of smaller states but not to the extentthat the majority of peoples in the Union could be effectivelydisenfranchised. This is one reason why opinion polls in all thesmaller candidate countries favour ratification of Nice, the earlyadmission of the 10 qualified candidates into EU membership and rapidprogress in agreeing a democratic constitutional treaty for a reunitedEurope which the Convention is actively preparing even now. - Yours,etc.,
Political Director,
European Policy Centre,
Brussels.
Sir, - Bertie Ahern and the Government have made trust an issue inthe upcoming Nice referendum. Bertie continually tells us to trust themon the treaty. Trust them with our neutrality. Trust them with Irishsovereignty and independence. Trust them on Ireland's place in Europe.Trust them that Nice will bring jobs and prosperity. Trust them that adoomsday situation will arise if Ireland says No to Nice again. Soquite clearly trust is important.
But how can we trust Bertie Ahern? This is the man who appointeddisgraced Liam Lawlor to the Dáil ethics committee. This is the man whoappointed disgraced Ray Burke to cabinet in 1997. This is the man whoappointed disgraced former Government Press secretary, P.J. Mara, tohead Fianna Fáil's "Yes for Nice" campaign. This is the man who told usrepeatedly during the general election campaign that there would be nocuts in our health and education services. This is the man who promiseda referendum before Ireland joined Partnership for Peace.
Clearly we cannot trust Bertie Ahern and this Government on anythingthat they tell us. I for one do not intend to trust them on Nice.Here's one person who intends voting No this time. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN BRENNAN,
Cartron Bay,
Sligo.
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Sir, - Frank Small of the Irish Anti-Racism Network (IARN)criticises opponents of the Nice Treaty (October 10th). In reply,Anthony Coughlan of the National Platform describes the Irish AgainstRacism Network as either a creation of Mr Small's imagination or set upin conjunction with a few friends, designed to provide a "seeminglyplausible basis" for purveying "groundless and inaccurate accusations".
Would Mr Coughlan outline how the National Platform differs fromthis decription? Given all the airtime and print space he has received,surely he could tell us how many members he has and who he represents.- Is mise,
MALCOLM BYRNE,
Ramsfort Avenue,
Gorey.
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Sir, - I must say I agree with T.K. Gordon (October 8th) regardingthe way the pro Nice lobby abuses and vilifies those who hold adifferent opinion from their own. Television discussions show thembutting in and raging at their opponents without even allowing thempolitely to finish the points they are making.
Speaking of television, I was amused to see John Bruton tell ameeting in Limerick to defer punishing the Government until the nextelection and then let them have it good and proper! Who knows, FineGael might even scrape back into office again with a bit of luck weremany people to pay heed to that. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDA O'HANRAHAN,
Park Lane,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.
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Sir, - The Nice Referendum debate can sometimes be a little bit onthe serious side so for the past few weeks we have been running acompetition in the office for the daftest reasons given for why peopleshould vote No. To lighten the mood of the national debate we havedecided to extend participation in this competition to the public.
We are offering a prize for the daftest reason given to vote No.However, as the following reasons have already been submitted, they areineligible..
"Nice will stop me buying vitamins and minerals." (No voterencountered on Grafton Street.) "Nice means euthanasia" (Letter to theSunday Business Post). "North Mayo didn't get a senator." (Report onrte.ie.) "It's a Franco-German Axis plot." (No voter, Blackrock.)
The e-mail address for entries is:NoReasonForNo@allianceforeurope.org. The lucky winner will chosen nextFriday and receive the wonderfully appropriate prize of a packet ofNice Biscuits.
We were hoping to offer Justin Barrett's magnum opus The NationalWay Forward!, but we, like the copyright library in Trinity, have beenunable to obtain a copy. - Yours, etc.,
SEAMUS MULCONRY,
Irish Alliance for Europe,
Fitzwilliam Square,
Dublin 2.
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Sir, - Regarding Nice: "What doth it profit a man if he gain thewhole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?" (Mark 8: 36) - Yours,etc.,
ITA UÍ BHRIAIN,
Ennafort Road,
Raheny,
Dublin 5.
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A chara, - Should Nice fall, perhaps expansion could still takeplace within a time-frame of only three-and-a-half hours via atele-poll run in conjunction with the Eurovision Song Contest next May.We'd get our fair say and a chance to sing along with the winners.
There is perhaps the risk of Britain being ousted by a Franco-Germanic coalition, but some sacrifices must be made. - Is mise,
JOHN MORIARTY,
Meadow Close,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.