Madam, – I have been following with interest the various letter-writers’ contributions on the Lisbon Treaty over the past few months. What has truly amazed me is the certainty and conviction which some of the correspondents seem to have when they put pen to paper on this most complex of subjects.
Assuming that the factions on either side of the Lisbon debate have read the treaty text and each still maintains their polar-opposite stance, one can only conclude that the text is so vague as to be interpreted in any way the reader chooses.
The oxymoronic legal guarantees obtained by our Government seem to have added more heat than light to the debate.
At this juncture, it seems that the only sensible position for any non-partisan person to take is “Don’t Know”. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Dan O’Brien (Opinion, August 4th) refers to Ireland’s “allies”. Who are these? As a non-aligned country we do not have military allies.
“Provision of security” is a euphemism for an attempt to turn the EU into a military power rivalling the United States. Hence “historical dynamic of enormous momentum”, and “irresistible force”. This is called bullying. No European should be proud of it.
As for all the other states being united in its favour, the Lisbon Treaty is a repackaged version of the failed European constitution. It does not have the support of all EU citizens whatever their governments may have done over their heads. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Liam Alyward MEP is happy with the “legal guarantees” agreed by EU leaders in respect of “key concerns as expressed by the Irish people” (July 28th). However, he omits to note that his party, Fianna Fáil, failed to seek protection against the most serious threat to our society and national identity, in the form of excess immigration.
We already know that a host of new countries are in the queue to join the present 27 state EU empire of 500 million people: Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Croatia to mention but a few. And, of course, Turkey, the military friend of Britain and the US is there too, although there is little of Europe about its people’s values or society.
Our political parties have decided that they will not recognise the threat that excess immigration presents to our society, in an EU empire of open borders, in case they might be accused of acting “national”. And, if they don’t admit it’s a problem, sure they have no reason to seek a remedy for it!
Thus, Mr Alyward can state in a letter that the “key concerns” of Irish voters have been met. But for ordinary Irish people, excess immigration is already a “key concern” and will become even more so as each new country joins the EU and our country stays attractive to migrants from less developed countries.
Given the rate of immigration into Ireland over the past decade, the Irish will become a minority race in their own land before too long. But who cares? Not Fianna Fáil and not Mr Alyward, it appears. – Is mise,
LIAM Ó’ GÉIBHEANNAIGH,
Cill Tiarán,
Baile Atha Cliath 18.
Madam, – We now have a new basis to ask the people to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.
This is because the key concerns as expressed by voters in the referendum last year have now been addressed.
Ireland will now retain the right to appoint one member to the European Commission if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified. This is a big change from the last referendum when Ireland would only have a member of the European Commission for a period of 10 years out of every 15.
The new legal guarantees agreed last June mean that the Lisbon Treaty does not affect Irish tax laws or Irish neutrality and it does not affect the articles in the Irish Constitution which protect the right to life, education and family issues.
These aforementioned changes have all come about since the last Lisbon Treaty referendum. Anyone who argues that this is the exact same arrangement that is being put back to the Irish people for their consideration is being disingenuous.
The Millward Brown study commissioned last summer and the report carried out by the Oireachtas committee on the future of Europe both identified key issues that needed to be comprehensively addressed before a second referendum was held.
These changes have come about with the co-operation and understanding of the other 26 member- states of European Union.
It is also worth re-iterating that the Lisbon Treaty is an international sovereign text agreed by the 27 different Governments of the European Union. – Yours, etc,