Sir, - In relation to Peter Sutherland's criticism of the Government's handling of the Nice referendum, I would like to make the rather obvious point that the McKenna ruling has effectively tied the hands of Government influence.
Why was the Nice Treaty not ratified? Partly because the Government had to spend as much telling us to vote No as to vote Yes. A scaremongering No campaign and an infinitesimal, privately funded Yes lobby meant that more advertising told us to vote No than to vote Yes.
Then there was the fear of change: warnings that we would lose everything (power, money, etc.) sounded more convincing than advice telling us that enlargement was good, but of course we wouldn't be getting as much money and our voting power would decrease. When in doubt, vote for the status quo, which in this case was No.
It may surprise politicians and journalists (many of whom perhaps even went to the bother of reading the Nice Treaty), but the plain people of Ireland are not experts. They do not have degrees in economics or politics, yet they are expected to make informed decisions on issues like the Single Market (I am presently studying for a Master's degree in economics and I am still undecided).
Of course, you may say, the people must have a voice. I say they do. They elect people whom they trust to make decisions and it is more efficient to have a few people make a lot of decisions than to have a referendum over every issue. We elect governments to advise us and to lead us; but the reality is that when the Government brings a second referendum to ratify the Nice Treaty, it will again spend taxpayers' money equally telling people to vote Yes and No. But hey, that's democracy! - Yours, etc.,
Patrick Leahy, Richmond Road, Dublin 3.