Madam, - Gay Mitchell (March 27th) wants to know how Libertas is funded. We have repeatedly said that we are in communication with the Standards in Public Office Commission, and are totally compliant with the relevant legislation.
If Mr Mitchell, or his party, wants to go down the road of talking about political funding, we will happily oblige him. Perhaps we could start with a lengthy discussion of his own party's funding in the mid-1990s, when he was a government minister?
Mr Mitchell should stick to the facts of this treaty, and avoid
the politics. He was never very good at the latter anyway. - Yours,
etc,
JOHN McGUIRK,
Communications Director,
Libertas,
Baggot Street,
Dublin 2.
Madam, - Has Fine Gael learnt nothing from the Tallaght Strategy? Does it really think it will gain any political benefit, in Ireland, from yet again putting the country before party politics?
If Ireland votes No to Lisbon, absolutely nothing will happen. We won't be kicked out of the EU, no US firm will leave the country and Enda Kenny won't be cold shouldered by his colleagues in the European People's Party.
The EU will carry on as before - good, bad or indifferent - and with or without the treaty, decisions will still be made behind closed doors by unaccountable figures with no minutes of their deliberations.
The powers that be in Fine Gael forget its first priority, above all else including its attachment to the EU, is to win a general election in Ireland and form a government. It has failed to do this at every single election since November 1982 and coming a close second or winning more seats at European Parliament or local elections simply doesn't cut it.
By wasting time and money on a Yes campaign, Fine Gael is taking resources away from its responsibility to make sure this Government does not serve a full term.
If Fine Gael can force and win a general election and provide
the proper political and economic management Ireland desperately
needs, after 10 years of sickening cronyism and mismanagement, it
will have done more service to the country than any number of
campaigns for obscure EU treaties which no one fully understands. -
Yours, etc,
DESMOND FITZGERALD,
Canary Wharf,
London.
Madam, - Ray Bates's point (Letters, March 25th) about the Lisbon Treaty and further enlargement is well made. We are told by the proponents of the treaty that the current expanded EU needs a change in voting procedures at the council to facilitate smoother decision-making.
We were told, by the way, that the Nice Treaty was to achieve that purpose.
Helen Wallace of the LSE produced a report which showed decision-making had been quite smooth since the 10 accession states joined. The change would, of course, facilitate further enlargement but this is not being mentioned in case it frightens the voters.
Immigration Control Platform is firmly opposed to the entry of a
huge Muslim country, like Turkey, and would be concerned at the
seemingly endless eastward expansion of the EU. - Yours, etc,
ÁINE NÍ CHONAILL,
Immigration Control Platform,
Dublin 2.