There is nothing in the Nice Treaty which poses any threat to Irish culture, writes Seán Ó Neachtain
It is scandalous for Dana Rosemary Scallon MEP to imply in an article on this page last Friday that the Nice Treaty will somehow undermine the very moral fabric of Irish society, our culture and our traditions. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Ms Scallon should heed the statement by the Catholic bshops that on balance there is a stronger case for a Yes vote and that EU membership has been in the best interests of the Irish people. I am particularly glad that the bishops have urged people to do their democratic duty and express their views through the ballot box on polling day.
Ms Scallon even brings the Pope into the debate and would have people believe that he is against the Nice Treaty and enlargement, when his own statements and those of the Catholic bishops of Poland indicate the very opposite. The Pope recently visited his native Poland which is one of the 10 candidate countries hoping Ireland will say Yes to Nice so that they can join the EU on January 1st, 2004.
Just before his departure, Pope John Paul II stated his hope that Poland would soon "join the European community". On a visit in 1999, the Pope addressed the Polish Parliament with the words: "From the outset of the enlargement process, the Holy See has supported the integration of Poland into the European Union." On that occasion he went on to say: "European integration is part of our history of a shared spiritual and cultural heritage which has contributed to peace and security in Europe."
It is clear that Poland and the applicant states view enlargement as their chance to come back into the family of European nations and put behind them the dark years of communist oppression. It is also clear that they view the Nice Treaty as the cornerstone to that enlargement. We in Ireland have a moral obligation to assist these countries in achieving their goal.
Ms Scallon is trying to mislead the electorate by bringing the Charter of Fundammental Rights into the referendum debate. The charter has absolutely nothing to do with the Nice Treaty. Currently, the charter is a mere political declaration and it has no legally binding effect in Ireland whatsoever.
The future status of the charter is something that is being discussed in the Convention on the Future of Europe and will ultimately be decided by unanimity by the member- states in an Intergovernmental Conference. To bring the charter into the Nice debate is more than a red herring. It is a deliberate attempt to confuse the public on what is already a set of very complex issues.
The Constitution, Bunreacht na h-Éireann, is the ultimate guarantor of the rights and sovereignty of the Irish people. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has absolutely no power to interpret the Constitution. That is the function of the Supreme Court. The European Court was created by the member-states for the purpose of interpreting EU law only. Therefore Ireland's constitutional position on marriage, the family, the protection of the unborn or any other issue can only be changed by the will of the Irish people expressed through a referendum.
As a native Irish speaker and member of the European Parliament representing the constituency of Connacht Ulster, which contains the majority of the Gaeltacht regions, I can state clearly that the EU has done much to promote the Irish language and culture. The EU created the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages to defend the interests of such languages. Last year it funded projects throughout Ireland under the European Year of Languages
Since joining the EEC in 1973, there has been a great understanding at European level of the different problems that the peripheral parts of Ireland have had to confront. We are all aware of the billions of Euro that we have received in direct transfers for regional development. The fact that the EU allowed Ireland to redraw the regional boundaries in 1999 and create the Border, Midland and Western region in order to maximise Objective 1 funding gives evidence to the well of goodwill towards our country in Brussels.
Recently, the EU proposed to continue support for the International Fund for Ireland in 2003 and 2004. The objectives of this fund are to promote economic and social advance and to encourage contact, dialogue and reconciliation between nationalists and unionists throughout Ireland.
A No to Nice would clearly be against the Irish national interest. It would be radically against the interests of the west of Ireland and could seriously undermine the goodwill built up over the years which has allowed us to draw down such huge benefits. The EU has always actively promoted cultural and regional diversity and this will not change in any way if we ratify Nice by voting Yes.
Seán Ó Neachtain is a Fianna Fáil MEP for Connacht Ulster