EOIN O COFAIGH,
Sir, - The Green Party chairman, John Gormley TD (July 18th) refers to "the real issues at the heart of this Treaty" and mentions two: "enhanced co-operation" and "the loss of our automatic right to a commissioner". He develops only his point about the latter, so this must be the key issue for his party. He claims ratification would be "a very serious blow to our interests and indeed to those of other smaller states."
If so, how does Mr Gormley explain that every other "smaller state" has ratified the treaty? Does he think the governments of Denmark, Portugal, Greece, Luxembourg, Finland are so stupid or cowardly as to act against their people's interests? Nonsense. The reason these small states have all signed up to Nice is precisely because it is in their interests to have a workable Commission. Nice ensures a workable Commission if/when the Union grows to 25 states.
Enlargement without Commission reform is a recipe for disaster. Only an idiot could conceive a 45-member Commission to be workable. What on earth would they all do? Do we want a Commissioner for Irish Dancing?
Ireland needs an effective Commission to see off the larger States when our interests are threatened. After Nice, we can continue to ensure our interests are looked after by working with the other small states, wheeling and dealing to help each other, as we already do. Sure, it's great to have an Irish Commissioner. Sure, it'd be great to go on that way. But not at the price of the Commission's collapse.
If we want allies in Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia, Slovenia, we should vote for Nice now, and get them all in as fast as possible. That might even help with CAP defence, for those who believe in defending the CAP.
The Government's inability to sell Nice is disgraceful. - Yours, etc.,
EOIN Ó COFAIGH, Mayfield Road, Dublin 6w.
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Sir, - How kind of Bono to assure foreign politicians that I and the rest of the Irish people who voted to the Nice Treaty last year "did not understand the issues and if they did they would have voted yes". I did not personally elect Bono to any political status and, having never met him, am unaware as to how he is certain of my grasp of the issues concerned. Consequently I'm impressed with his ability to predict how I ought to and would vote.
With this level of political talent around why do we bother to hold elections? - Yours, etc.,
IRENE WINTERS, Harty Avenue, Dublin 12.
Sir, - John Gormley (July 18th) claims that "enlargement can and will go ahead regardless of the Irish vote".
I consider this to be a dishonest claim.
Enlargement can only go ahead with the agreement of all 15 existing member-states. At Nice, the governments of these states, including our Government, negotiated an agreed basis for enlargement to take place. Mr Gormley wants Irish voters to reject this agreement. If we do, we are rejecting the only agreed basis for enlargement.
The Green Party cannot know what would happen in that event. Perhaps a new basis for enlargement could be negotiated in two years. Perhaps a national parliament would then refuse to ratify what its government had agreed. We just don't know.
The truth is if we reject the Nice Treaty we are putting enlargement at risk. I consider that to do so would be unfair to the people of Central and Eastern Europe. EU membership will help strengthen their democracies and bring them the benefits of peace and growing prosperity that the existing member-states enjoy. - Yours, etc.,
TOM SHEEDY, Seapark, Malahide, Co Dublin.
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Sir, - I have one fundamental difficulty with the entire debate currently under way on the Nice Treaty: Ireland has already voted No.
Instead of arguing the merits of red herrings cynically peddled by both sides of this debate, shouldn't the whole country be up in arms at the fact that democracy has been so fundamentally undermined?
I have always felt privileged to have the right to vote which ever way I wish - a right that many people in the world do not have - and I feel cheated that this right has been devalued by the Government's and the EU's attempt to negate the will of the majority of the Irish people as expressed in the original vote on this Treaty.
The only viable argument I have heard for the dismissal of the original No vote is based on the very low turnout for that poll. But surely if those with the right to vote decide not to bother, despite the efforts of every party and a special Referendum Commission, they have abandoned their own rights?
Or perhaps they have realised that in these days of high-stakes interests, democracy has taken second place? - Yours, etc.,
BRENDAN PATRICK CULLINAN, Tilbury Place, Kilkenny.