Sir, – Nigel Farage's article advocating EU exit is long on assertion and short on facts ("Our politicians have sold out for free sandwiches and jobs in Brussels", Opinion & Analysis, November 12th).
When he states on the one hand that Irish democracy “has been crushed by the iron fist of the EU” and on the other that “Ireland and the UK have had a long association”, he leaves out any reference to the hundreds of years of colonial rule from London.
When he states that Ireland is being “bled dry by the EU”, he ignores the fact that Ireland’s gain from EU membership since entry was €70 billion. While we paid in €27 billion, there was a net gain of €43 billion.
In addition, when our own most powerful citizens made reckless decisions during the boom, which bankrupted this country, we got €56 billion from the EU/IMF bailout programme. Much of this was funded by the taxpayers of sometimes poorer EU countries.
That hardly supports the accusation that we were bled dry by the EU.
When he states that membership of the EU, giving this country’s businesses access to a home market of 500 million people, is “a quaint relic of the protectionist past”, he is forgetting that many countries which are not in the EU would like to join that quaint relic.
When Nigel Farage states that democracy is a “heretical doctrine” in the EU, he is really not facing facts. He ignores the fact that the EU is a union of nearly 30 democracies, each of which signed a treaty to cooperate in matters of mutual interest. That level of cooperation between independent countries, which includes vetoes in matters such as tax, is unique in the world.
Being a human institution, however, it is less than perfect. But it better than the past when imperial governments and totalitarian dictators reduced Europe to ruins in rows over which of them would govern the Continent.
For Ireland, it is better than it was when this country was governed as a colony from London. – Yours, etc,
A LEAVY,
Sutton, Dublin 13.
Sir, – Nigel Farage blames Ireland’s membership of the EU for unemployment and emigration in Ireland. These things, of course, never happened before 1973. – Yours, etc,
COLM O’CONNOR,
Stoneybatter, Dublin 7.
Sir, – If, as Nigel Farage says, that trade is done “business to business, not government to government”, how does he explain Margaret Thatcher’s visits to Saudi Arabia to oil the wheels of BAE arms deals or any number of trade missions conducted by governments all across the globe? – Yours, etc,
PATRICK S BRADY,
Newbridge, Co Kildare.
Sir, – Nigel Farage suggests that the Irish are a Eurosceptic people, oppressed by a Europhile elite, bought for a few sandwiches. The 2015 Eurobarometer survey reports that 12 per cent of us have a negative view of the EU, and 77 per cent of us (the highest proportion in the EU) are optimistic about its future. We have, of course, close links with Britain, but Mr Farage is wrong about our views on Europe, which are quite different to his.
As for our “oppressive” elite, even if not sound on the question of sandwiches, they are in line with the views of most of us on Europe. – Yours, etc,
Prof ANTHONY STAINES,
School of Nursing
and Human Sciences,
Dublin City University,
Dublin 9.