A chara, – Here we go again. Barry O’Leary’s piece (Opinion, April 26th) is blatant scaremongering in the extreme. We have seen this before throughout the Nice and Lisbon campaigns. We have even seen the same scaremongering lines used when Martin McGuinness was a presidential candidate. Throughout all of these campaigns the apocalyptic sound bites proclaimed that there would be no investment, no jobs and all international businesses would be frightened away from our shores if people voted the “wrong” way.
Conversely, of course, if the people voted the “right” way we would have an abundance of investment, jobs, etc.
It appears that the Yes campaign is embarking on that old familiar path of scaremongering tactics yet again. Fortunately, people can now see what has happened to the threats and promises such as “Vote Yes for Jobs” of previous campaigns.
The scaremongers of the Yes side may continue with their mantra in the campaign ahead, but the people are now older and wiser after previous campaigns and will give their answer. – Is mise,
Sir, – Does it not strike your readers as ironic that some trade unions are advocating a No vote in the upcoming fiscal treaty referendum, while at the same time insisting that the Croke Park agreement (which is being funded by the troika) is sacrosanct? Surely a prime example of wanting to have your cake and eat it too. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – This treaty marks yet another hiving off of power from our State to an unelected elite in Brussels. And this time it is being initiated by the party of Collins et al. Allow me to elaborate.
Just what is in this treaty which we can’t legislate for ourselves? We will be signing up to budget deficit rules which we could enshrine in our own Constitution ourselves. We could allow our comptroller and auditor general greater powers in the area of pre-audit spending and allow this office, through the Dáil, to refuse issuing spending to the Minister for Finance if we are in danger of breaching a set budget deficit. It is almost 20 years since this office has had its powers extended and it is one of our few institutions which so far remains in the highest esteem.
It’s not enough to rip a country of her dignity, but to further compound this we have stopped legislating for ourselves. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Despite condemnation of those supporting the EU fiscal treaty as “Thatcherite” (Home News, April 26th), Mr Adams appears to owe one or two things himself to the Iron Lady. His “No! No! No!” attitude of handing over power to “unelected officials and bureaucrats in the EU Commission” echoes Thatcher’s own anti-European stance.
A good publicity campaign by Sinn Féin is what is needed here, and its pamphlet phrase “Austerity isn’t working” could be a winner. Mrs T would certainly approve, after all her party’s ad campaign “Labour isn’t working” helped sweep the Conservatives to power in 1979.
It seems Mr Adams may be more “Thatcherite” than he realises and he’s certainly not for turning on a No vote. – Yours, etc,