A Chara, - Fintan O'Toole used his column of June 5th to attack the Christian Solidarity Party. Like so many on the pro-treaty side, he prefers to belittle the opposition rather than deal with the issues. He uses emotive terms like "paranoid xenophobia", "wide-eyed paranoia" and "right-wing"; if he were to read our publications, he would find that these terms are as inappropriate as they are slanderous.
Mr O'Toole pokes fun at the phrase "Soviet-style government" in relation to the EU. But the accumulation of power by an unelected commission in pursuance of a centralised European super-state has more similarities with the Soviet Union than with the US. George Bush had to seek votes from ordinary Americans; so had Hilary Clinton; and so had Ace The Body Ventura. The EU Commission is unelected and, if the Nice Treaty is ratified, even the Irish Government won't be able to insist on a nomination.
Mr O'Toole ridicules Professor Wilkins's statement that "ICC statutes can be used to restructure family life and religious practice" and does not seem to be aware that the proposed crime of "forced pregnancy" is quite separate from rape. The International Criminal Court will claim jurisdiction over every person on the planet and will be effectively answerable to none of us. Does he really approve of such a body? Mr O'Toole misunderstands the Christian Solidarity Party's opposition to the death penalty. We have drawn attention to three facts: that the proposed ban applies only to the Oireachtas; that the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU imposes no comparable ban during a time of war or armed rebellion; and that the proposed deletions from the Constitution are of sections protective of the prisoner under sentence of death and not the reverse. On the PfP, it appears that we and Mr O'Toole are at one; perhaps he should rethink his position. - Yours, etc.,
Manus Mac Meanmain, Christian Solidarity Party, Dublin 4.