A chara, - According to your correspondent, Paul Gillespie, the near 40 per cent vote against the Amsterdam Treaty was a protest vote. That is a possibility, but perhaps there is a problem with the EU, as ordinary people see it, and perhaps these people are more aware of the dangers to themselves, their children and their communities than the political elite.
The erosion of neutrality, the lack of democracy in EU structures and institutions, and the feeling of marginalisation and alienation are major problems for thousands of Irish people, but seem only an embarrassment to this political elite. In fact the working class constituencies in the cities had a very high No vote against the Amsterdam Treaty e.g. Dublin North West, which Proinsias de Rossa represents, had a No vote of almost 43 per cent.
A worrying development for our democracy is that opposition in the Dail is minuscule. Most parties are now in the centre or right of centre including Democratic Left and the Labour Party. Furthermore, the untruths of many politicians in this debate were astonishing.
But the full weight of the Irish establishment including most politicians and newspapers, not to mention the economic power blocks, could not convince a very substantial section of the Irish electorate that the Amsterdam Treaty as presented to them was necessary for this country. It is possible that the collective political judgement in the Dail and even in the EU is wrong.
We must be forever grateful to the courts for their courageous decisions in defence of our constitution and for the groups and individuals, like Patricia McKenna of the Green Party and Anthony Coughlan of the National Platform, who have fronted these cases.
Politicians should remember that the Celtic Tiger, powered by the EU economic machine, has barely touched large sections of our society and the good days seem to be over. The gravy train has left. - Is mise, Eamonn O Liathain,
Rath Fearnain,
Baile Atha Cliath 14.