Sir, - I refer to a letter (June 13th) from Ms Patricia Lawler, Executive of the European Movement, in reply to my letter on the Amsterdam Treaty, and I would like to make the following points: (1) Ms Lawler spoke strongly in favour of the European Movement and the Treaty in her opening remarks. (2) The Ibec representative may have been included to cover only the business aspects of the Treaty, but, if so, nobody apparently briefed him, as he proceeded immediately to demolish all the arguments made by the excellent Patricia McKenna at a Green Party press conference on the previous day.
So, even if we overlook the probable "for" contribution by the Fianna Fail politician who was invited, but was unable to attend the meeting, the arithmetic is still four to one for the Treaty, while the result of the referendum was three to two. Is this democracy?
It is clear, therefore, that the network of "yes" persons lined up by the politicians, including elements in the National Women's Council, Rape Crisis Centre, ICTU and Ibec, who were to the fore at the Beijing and Cairo conferences purporting to represent Ireland, are quite prepared to echo and rubber-stamp the wishes of their liberal masters in Merrion Street.
No, Ms Lawler, I do not have, or represent, any organisation. I seek only to offset those whose liberal policies have given the people of Ireland a legacy of drugs, violence, broken families, divorce, a tax on old people and murder. - Yours, etc., Geoff McAdam,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.