Madam, – I find it tiring that the issues over calling for a second Lisbon referendum are being dragged up again (Denis O’Callaghan, October 15th). There was nothing at all undemocratic about calling for a second referendum.
First, an independent survey was carried out to find out why people voted no. It was found that the reasons were either misguided, and had nothing to do with the actual treaty, or were valid issues which the government went on to address. Second, it says within our democratically created constitution that referendums can be held as many times as the government sees fit. Calling for a second referendum allowed for the Irish people to make a more educated and informed vote, something which didn’t happen the first time around. This cannot be called undemocratic.
The Irish Times's call for a second referendum was not an insult to democracy. In my opinion, any regular reader of The Irish Timescannot deny that they have always been a pro-democratic paper. – Yours, etc,