Madam, - Your edition of October 12th reported that Mary Lou McDonald, MEP and the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee had voted against Mr Rocco Buttiglione's appointment as EU Commissioner because of his stance on women's rights and gay rights.
Mr Buttiglione is reported as saying during his hearing that he considered homosexuality a sin, and that marriage was ordained by God so that women could have children and raise them within a family. Most commentators have stressed that, while asserting his personal beliefs, Mr Buttiglione went to some lengths to say he would not seek to impose them on others.
I would share Ms McDonald's rather than Mr Buttiglione's views on women and gay rights. However, what puzzles me is, firstly, in the context of a secular parliament, who cares what he thinks is a sin? Sin is a matter for the private, not the public, sphere. Secondly, who cares what his definition of marriage is? Marriage is not a competence of the European Commission or of European law.
Is there any chance of the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee engaging with real civil liberties issues rather than investigating Mr Buttiglione's private moral universe?
I have in mind issues such as the use of the baseball bat to impose communal public order. I imagine that my view on this issue may be closer to Mr Buttiglione's than to Ms McDonald's, but in any event it would seem more appropriate for the public domain than Mr Buttiglione's confessional beliefs.
Given her vigilance about Mr Buttiglione, perhaps we can expect Ms McDonald to table this and similar instances of infringement of civil liberties for consideration by the committee in the future? - Yours, etc.,
COLETTE ROBINSON,
Gracepark Gardens,
Dublin 9.