Sir, – Having voted on the third amendment to our Constitution (1972) and at every opportunity since then, I have to acknowledge that I have been hanging around this shrinking Republic, albeit outside Leinster House, even longer than Enda Kenny has been hanging around inside. I have seen a succession of constitutional amendments whereby we traded off some autonomy/sovereignty in consideration of European Union membership benefits, whether real or aspirational. I have seen successive general elections where up to a million people vote for 166 people and then watched as all but 15 or thereabouts are marginalised into opposition or whipped backbenchers. With virtual Cabinet meetings, an Economic Management Council of four and a supervising troika, I may even be understating the erosion of our representative democracy.
We the citizens are now being asked to trade off a further part of our power and influence over our political affairs for a saving of an amount that probably equates with what Enda Kenny's pension would cost on the open market. We might not always have a mild-mannered Mayo schoolteacher. I well remember the "Una Duce Una Voce" style of a predecessor of his.
Of course it is an imperfect undemocratic, part-time, nursery/retirement home. With a resounding No vote the flaws can and must be fixed. With a Yes vote, like that awful advertisement “When they’re gone, they’re gone”. – Yours, etc,
TERRY GRIFFIN,
Aughrim Street,
Dublin 7.