A chara, – There is little point in the Taoiseach referring to the scaremongering and lies during the run-up to the first Lisbon Treaty referendum, when the Yes campaigners were clearly unable to rise above those tactics themselves. In all likelihood, a second Lisbon referendum will not make the electorate any more knowledgable about the legislation.
It will merely be a case of bombarding the electorate with more posters, adorned with promises such as, “Better for Ireland”.
Rather than be persuaded by empty rhetoric, the Irish electorate is asking to be educated or taught – that is, to be given rational reasons for thinking that the underlying principles of the legislation warrant our ratification.
Unfounded promises are every bit as misleading as scaremongering and lies. – Is mise,
Madam, – The name chosen by a recently launched pro-Lisbon lobby groups “Ireland for Europe” would appear to indicate that they may be unaware that Ireland has been a full member of EU for over 35 years.
Considering the background of some of the high-profile celebrities involved in the group perhaps “Lisbon United” would be a more appropriate title. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Eoin Ryan (June 26th) suggests that it is time to move the discussion away from what is not in the Lisbon Treaty to what is in it. I favour that suggestion as it would focus on the fact that the Lisbon Treaty represents a massive power shift away from the nations and people that make up the European Union to the distant and democratically unresponsive institutions of the European Union. These institutions have shown themselves time again to be uninterested in the wishes of the citizens of the European Union as opposed to the wishes of the political elite of the European Union, with regard to what the European Union should be all about and the direction in which it should go. – Yours, etc,