Madam, - Fergus Beatty (July 4th) is critical of my letter of June 29th in which I objected to awards and titles of nobility being conferred upon Irish citizens by the British State, arguing that such actions were an infringement of Irish sovereignty and an attack on Bunreacht na hÉireann. Mr Beatty states that he "fails to see how the voluntary personal acceptance of awards or titles by Irish citizens is any concern of the Government of this country, or how it could be construed as an attack upon any aspect of its sovereignty or constitution".
Perhaps if Mr Beatty had bothered to familiarise himself with Article 40:2:2 of Bunreacht na hÉireann he might have saved himself the trouble of responding to my letter. Allow me to quote the relevant section of Article 40: "No title of nobility or of honour may be accepted by any citizen except with the prior approval of the Government".
Not all countries treat their constitution in such a cavalier fashion. Take Canada, for example. Despite being a member of the Commonwealth, Canada forbids her citizens to accept titles from either a foreign ruler or from its own Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II. As a result of pressure from Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien and his government, the newspaper magnate Conrad Black had to renounce his Canadian citizenship in order to receive a life peerage from the Queen
To draw a comparison, as Mr Beatty does, between Irish citizens receiving the Légion d'Honneur and accepting awards from the British monarch displays a considerable naivety, The medal of the Légion d'Honneur is France's highest accolade. Initiated by the First Consul of the French Republic Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802, it is awarded to citizens who distinguish themselves through civilian or military valour, whereas the British system is the conferring of honours or titles on subjects by a hereditary Monarch, which is the antithesis of egalitarianism and republicanism. - Yours, etc,
TOM COOPER, Delaford Lawn, Dublin 16.