Madam, - If nothing else, Mary Lou McDonald's article (December 2nd), provided some fascinating insights into the logic that informs Sinn Féin thinking on the Lisbon Treaty.
To suggest that Ireland's self-imposed difficulty in not ratifying the treaty is, somehow, a problem that the rest of Europe will have to come to terms with, is amazingly naive, even for a Sinn Féin MEP.
She confuses mannerly responses from her fellow MEPs with the reality on the ground. She seems unwilling or unable to comprehend the seriousness of the crisis that is fast approaching.
Europe will NOT continue to tolerate the nonsense that passed for debate in this country before last Junes referendum. If Mr Cowen repeats his inept performance and we fail to ratify the treaty at the second attempt, the deepening recession may well be the least of our problems. A mechanism can easily be found to move forward without the Irish fully on board.
And as a small country with less than 1 per cent of the population of the EU, we would not be missed. - Yours, etc,
NIALL GINTY,
(Chairman - Conor Cruise O'Brien Society),
Killester
Dublin 5.