Sir, – Paul Gillespie ("A case for a new type of social partnership", March 12th) is right to argue that Irish governments should follow a German social European model. This requires adequate levels of taxation to address deficiencies in public services in Ireland.
The UK referendum on EU membership will indeed have major repercussions for the island of Ireland, but no matter what the result, Irish governments should reject the neoliberal ideology assiduously promoted by the UK since 1979, and too often followed by Dublin – to Ireland’s detriment.
It is essential to build a European Union that defends the environment and social justice, rather than the British establishment’s capitulation to the will of corporations and their Brussels lobbyists.
– Yours, etc,
Dr SIMON SWEENEY
University of York,
UK.