Madam, - The results of the Irish Times/TNS mrbi opinion poll published in yesterday's edition open up an appalling vista.
For 35 years, since joining what is now the European Union, we have experienced an unprecedented increase in living standards and employment. Our negotiators have a track record of being extremely effective and have punched well above their weight. I am confident this will also be the case in future.
The Lisbon Treaty offers the opportunity to continue full and active participation in a European Union that has brought peace to a continent ravaged by war. It also protects our vital interests. The media have given extensive coverage to the content of the Treaty. No one can say they have not been informed.
I hope the views of the confident modern Ireland will prevail. A negative result would cause severe damage to our reputation, and to jobs. To quote Franklin D Roosevelt: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". I will emphatically be voting Yes. - Yours, etc,
LIAM CONNELLAN, Knocksinna Park, Foxrock, Dublin 18.
Madam, - The IRA may have decommissioned their arms, but have Sinn Féin succeeded in persuading us to shoot ourselves in the foot? - Yours, etc,
TONY BARDON, Manor Heath, Dublin 16.
Madam, - I have followed the debate on this page with great interest as, while leaning to a No vote, I am still undecided.
My own opinion is that many people are focusing on single issues and missing the elephant in the room. The fundamental issue concerns a substantial transfer of sovereign power from a democratically governed Ireland to a coterie of unelected bureaucrats. Not to mention the point that, one-third of the time, we won't have our own unelected bureaucrat to represent our national interests.
It seems to me that there is a basic lack of democracy, accountability and transparency at the heart of the EU policy and decision-making apparatus and for many voters such as myself this is a key concern and is not being addressed by the Lisbon Treaty. I simply don't trust those unelected blighters in Brussels. Why should I? As for all these rumblings about the dire consequences of a No vote, the Irish electorate resents being cajoled and bullied and politicians forget this at their peril.
The argument that "there is no Plan B", or "this is Plan B", is contemptible. If the treaty is not carried, let the bureaucrats come up with a Plan C that people find intelligible and acceptable. - Yours, etc,
ARTHUR BOLAND, Cecilia Street, Dublin 2.
Madam, - I note that your opinion poll shows some 30 per cent of those intending to vote No are doing so because they do not understand the issues.
Surely the logical thing for such people is to abstain. Otherwise they are distorting the result and, I submit, thereby rendering invalid the outcome of the referendum. They are behaving perversely and justifying the view of those who believe the matter is too complex to decide by referendum. Those voting Yes, while not understanding the issues, are equally guilty.
How can the result represent an accurate view of the electorate if very substantial numbers vote without understanding? It's simply a cop-out to blame the politicians if you do not understand the treaty. - Yours, etc,
PATRICK KELLEHER, Walnut Rise, Dublin 9
Madam, - Will a No vote be seen by the EU as a final No, or will it be seen as another "No, but please ask me again in a year or so"? For perfect clarity on this I suggest we paraphrase the oft-quoted words of Donald Rumsfeld and say: "Reports that say that the people of Ireland have voted No are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known Nos; there are Nos we know are No. We also know there are known unNos; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know are No or are not No. But there are also unknown unNos - the ones we don't know are No or are not No". - Yours, etc,
FRANK HANNON, Cloghroe Upper, Co Cork.
Madam, - No-to-Lisbon campaigners constantly say that the EU Constitutional Treaty was rejected by the electorate of France and the Netherlands and we now should vote No on this basis. But the citizens of two other EU countries, Spain and Luxembourg, voted Yes in their referendums on the same Constitution. Should their views not be equally respected? - Yours, etc,
SEÁN O'HALLORAN, Adare, Co Limerick
Madam, - Fianna Fáil said during last year's general election that it alone could be trusted to manage the economy successfully, continue to invest in public services and capital development, reduce class sizes, etc. Within a year of the election the economy has taken a nosedive and the party has reneged on many of its commitments to invest in public services. Many people who voted for the Government must feel betrayed and fooled.
This is surely having a bearing on the Government's inability to win the trust of the people on Lisbon. Furthermore, the Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll has shown that other parties such as Labour are clearly out of touch with their supporters' feelings. The issues of the privatisation and liberalisation of public services and the reduction of workers' rights are major issues, despite what the Yes campaigners claim, and it appears the people are not being fooled again. - Yours, etc,
RORY HEARNE, Department of Geography, Trinity College, Dublin 2.
Madam, - I find it wholly disgusting and deplorable that The Irish Times should give space to Frederick Forsythe so that he can rant and rave against the Lisbon Treaty and the European Union. On neither topic is he wholly informed (Opinion, June 5th).
Ireland has enough ignorant anti-Lisbon people of its own without importing the views of a well-known bigoted Anglophile, formerly hostile to the Northern peace process, ultra-right-wing in his politics and extremely Europhobic.
Let not the Irish people be duped by a thriller-writer now long past his sell-by date. In a sense he has become his own creation - the Jackal - though in a different context. - Yours, etc,
OLIVER McCANN, Glencregagh Road, Belfast 8.