Sir, - Opponents of the Nice Treaty are once again dragging out the slogan: "If you don't know, vote No," which has already been tried unsuccessfully for the Amsterdam Treaty.
At the same time the very same opponents of the Nice Treaty are not shy about presenting arguments of all kinds on the substance of the treaty itself - many of them totally spurious - so they are obviously hedging their bets, appealing to both ignorance and knowledge at the same time.
The implicit appeal to ignorance in the slogan is both pathetic and insulting to the public. There is plenty of information available on the Treaty of Nice - the Government's White Paper as well as the summary version available to every household in the country providing all the information one needs to identify all the issues involved.
The Dail and the Seanad have just had lengthy debates on the ins and outs of the various changes proposed and, while the reporting in the media on these debates has not been as full as it should have been, the main issues have been aired and made known to the public.
What is most objectionable in the slogan is the appeal to the darker side of human nature which rejects anything new or unfamiliar - the arch-conservative mentality which fuels xenophobia and racism as well as rejecting anything that smacks of progress. Irish people should put that kind of sloganising where it belongs on polling day - in the rubbish bin! - Yours, etc.,
John McGuinness, TD, Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.