Madam, – May I compliment Stephen Collins on his article (Opinion, October 3rd), implying that the self-interest of our politicians has got us into this economic sorry mess.
As a No supporter, like the rest of our genuinely-motivated team in one of Ireland’s large towns, I was quietly confident of winning this referendum. My main reason for thinking that was that we had put good, persuasive No leaflets etc in every letterbox, both in our town and in the surrounding villages, and had numerically matched the Yes posters. The feedback from voters was positive and acknowledged that they had nothing, verbally or in writing, from the Yes side.
We were out every night, for the last four weeks, leafleting and postering, in the knowledge that we would meet no Yes opposition! That the No side was defeated so comprehensively tells me that people voted out of fear and a desperate perceived dependence on Europe for survival. That trumped any wish by voters (like in the previous referendum), to give our Irish Government a bloody nose by voting No, though they very much wanted to do so.
As Mr Collins pointed out, the fact that so many of our politicians didn’t bother to mount a serious campaign has very serious implications for our country’s economic future and its role in the world.
ANNE SCOTT,
Dublin Road,
Mullingar,
Co Westmeath.
Madam, – Denis O’Callaghan (October 7th) ought to base his views on more substantial facts other than on something he “read somewhere”. For his information, 62.63 per cent of the 40 million plus Iranians that voted in Iran’s recent elections voted for Mr. Ahmadinejad, and as your Taoiseach rightly points out “the people’s decision is sovereign”. Mr O’Callaghan might also do well to understand that the greater majority of Iran’s 70-plus million people continue to benefit from Mr Ahmadinejad’s social programme, which does not escape their attention at election time. – Yours, etc,
FATEMEH ARDANEH,
Second Counsellor,
Press Section,
Embassy of the Islamic
Republic of Iran,
Mount Merrion Avenue,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.