Sir, - Drapier states (The Irish Times, October 16th) that although he regrets that we did not have a referendum to decide on PfP membership, he is confident that the policy would have been decisively endorsed "if the issue were properly explained and if Fianna Fail and Fine Gael were backing it." Indeed some explanation would be welcome. Ireland's Constitution states its acceptance of the generally recognised principles of international law, and its adherence to the principle of resolution of international conflicts through peaceful means. In this regard, Ireland has been a loyal member of the UN, supporting peacekeeping missions over several decades. NATO, to which PfP is affiliated, has undermined the UN by defying its rulings, and the UN has been further eroded by the lack of financial and other support shown by at least some NATO member states.
PfP membership would entail a huge expenditure on military hardware, much of it irrelevant to our own defence needs (£40 million on armoured personnel carriers alone). We have not been told where this money will come from, and what other programmes must be compromised to find it.
For over two years the people of Ireland have been hearing how a number of our elected representatives misused or diverted vast sums of public money, something for which we definitely did not vote. I hope that Drapier's belief that we would vote for PfP now better reflects his grip on reality than ours. - Yours, etc.,
Deirdre NI Eidhin, Watkins Buildings, The Coombe, Dublin 8.