Sir, - The Peace and Neutrality Alliance campaigned against Irish membership of the Partnership for Peace, and we welcomed the 1997 Election Manifesto of the Fianna Fail Party which opposed Ireland's membership of PfP. Fianna Fail's democratic mandate was not to join the PfP.
However, the Fianna Fail/PD Government has done a U-turn and now states that it will join this autumn.
PANA was one of the first organisations to seek a real debate on the PfP and a referendum. We call upon the Government to set a date for a referendum which it is entitled to do under the Constitution. This will allow the people to decide.
We call upon the media to allow a debate. We have therefore published a document which we believe puts a decisive case against Ireland's membership of PfP. We will be distributing it to political, religious, trade union and business leaders throughout the country.
By joining PfP the Irish Government wish to give a clear signal that it intends to join NATO in due course. It also shows its commitment to the gradual transformation of the EU into a federal, nuclear-armed super-state with its own European army. This process has been accelerated as a consequence of the agreement to the creation of a European defence identity in the Cologne Summit.
PANA believes that the Irish people do not support this objective. The Government should agree to hold a referendum before making any decision to join the PfP. - Yours, etc., Roger Cole,
Chair, Peace and Neutrality Alliance, Blackrock, Co Dublin.