Sir, – Liz Cullen in her letter on the triple lock (March 27th) reminds us that we were forced to vote twice in both the Nice and Lisbon Treaty referendums because government did not get the answer it wanted. It was in that second Nice referendum that the triple lock was first introduced to coerce people to change their minds. The government, after the first Nice vote, changed the rules of the Referendum Commission, removing its most crucial role of providing the Yes and No arguments.
This meant the second campaign was not fought on a level playing field. We tried to warn that the Seville Declaration/triple lock was not a constitutional guarantee and the Irish people were being asked to blindly put their faith in politicians to keep to their word.
Bertie Ahern had insisted that “Ireland’s neutrality will not be threatened by a Yes vote” and that voters must fulfil their “moral and historical duty” and vote Yes . Brian Cowen’s government in 2009, used the same declaration and triple lock arguments to induce people to change their votes in the second Lisbon Treaty vote.
Fear of further militarisation was a key factor in the Nice No vote as many feared that the EU was heading in a direction involving ever further militarisation, culminating in the establishment of a formal military force that would be led by the EU’s Nato members and could involve Ireland in military operations abroad that were not in our national interest or those of the United Nations. This militarisation of the EU is currently happening before our eyes.
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The commitment in Ireland’s solemn “National Declaration” on the triple lock was responded to by the other EU States in the Seville Declaration of 2002. It was mentioned in the Referendum Commission’s booklet sent to voters (but without including the pros and cons of same). It was on that basis that many people changed their earlier vote on these EU treaties and agreed to their ratification.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict is being used by our Government to get rid of the triple lock and allow the EU forge ahead with its military agenda, even though nothing has changed since Nice and Lisbon as regards the composition or standing of the UN, either in the Security Council or General Assembly, since this triple lock commitment was given to justify changing it now.
Ireland needs to stand by the principles enshrined Article 29(2) of our Constitution, adhering to the peaceful settlement of international disputes.
To quote the EU’s favoured theologian, Erasmus: “The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.” – Yours, etc,
PATRICIA McKENNA,
Dublin 9.
Lowry and a divided Dáil
Sir, – Justine McCarthy, " a culchie in the capital”, berates the people of north Tipperary for electing Michael Lowry to Dáil Éireann (“Dear Tipperary North voter, I’m furious with you for foisting Michael Lowry on us all”, Opinion & Analysis, March 28th). I suggest that McCarthy puts her name forward as a candidate in the next general election in North Tipperary.
No doubt she would head the poll. – Yours, etc,
ADRIAN HONAN,
Portarlington,
Co Laois.
Sir, – Justine McCarthy misses the point, which was made abundantly clear in your editorial of March 27th: “responsibility for this sorry state of affairs lies squarely at the door of Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his Government colleagues”. – Yours, etc,
MARY LEE,
Newbridge,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – Mary Barrett (Letters, March 28th) writes that Labour and the Social Democrats have a responsibility to stand for their own agendas and not get caught up in Sinn Féin’s agenda. Surely the question is why are Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael not standing up for their agendas instead of Michael Lowry’s? Both parties, along with every other party, have called for his resignation after the report of a tribunal. Now they are prepared to give him preferential speaking time over their own elected backbenchers, and have been prepared to hamstring the Dáil to do so. Why would anyone vote for one those backbenchers when their own leaders consider them with such contempt? – Yours, etc,
ENDA LYNCH,
Portobello,
Dublin 8.
Sir - For many years, northern unionists, holding a substantial majority of elected MPs, dismissed the genuine concerns of the MPs in opposition. They argued that majority rule was democracy in action. Really?
Today our Government argues that having the majority of TDs gives it the right to make decisions in the Dáil. No one can argue with that. However, it also argues that majority decisions, which dismiss the genuine concerns of TDs in the minority, is democratic. Really? – Yours, etc,
GREG MAXWELL,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.
Pope Francis’s radical vision
Sir, – There is a curious omission in Diarmuid Ferriter’s interesting assessment of Pope Francis (“Pope Francis has not been a revolutionary”, Opinion & Analysis, March 21st). There is no reference to the Pope’s signature project of reform and renewal of the Catholic Church under the rubric of synodality.
This is important because the synodal reform envisaged by Francis radicalises the vision of Vatican II referred to by Prof Ferriter. No longer is it a matter of a more collegial church with a balance of papal and episcopal power, now it is the People of God who are at the top of the “inverted pyramid”, and pope and bishops are at their service, to promote their mission. No more “helping Father”, rather a reimagining of church at every level, including local parish, so that it is the baptised who are the chief protagonists.
Of course rhetoric is one thing and implementation another. And the Catholic Church has a long way to go to turn this vision into reality. Nonetheless, as Prof Ferriter himself notes, it has made a start. Increasingly there are structures in place to facilitate the “co-responsibility” of laity in decision making, women are occupying middle and senior management positions, a new culture of transparency and accountability is being put in place and the ground is being laid for doctrinal development, All this is so necessary, not least in humble repentance to victims of clerical sexual abuse and their families, and given the non-reception of church teaching on sexuality and gender in many parts of the world, including our own.
All this ferment, which will be reflected once again in Ireland next October at the pre-synodal assembly in Kilkenny, and the following October (2026) at the full National Synodal Assembly, is happening with a degree of calm which is in stark contrast to the bedlam accompanying change in our wider world at the moment. The timetabling of a world-wide Ecclesial Assembly for Rome in October 2028 to evaluate progress is another earnest of the firm intention to continue with this momentum of reform. It would be an astonishing achievement if radical change could be introduced to such an enormous and venerable institution in a peaceful way.
We can argue over words as to whether this represents revolution or evolution: undeniably it represents change, and many of us view this change as a source of hope for believers and unbelievers alike. – Yours, etc,
GERRY O’HANLON, SJ
Dublin 10.
The local property tax
Sir, – I couldn’t agree more with Gerard Howlin when he refers to the local property tax as “derisory” (“The general election campaign was a raucous wake for an era that was already over”, Opinion & Analysis, March 28th). The key, however, is in the name: local.
In nearly all European countries, there is a meaningful property tax as part of the taxation mix, and these countries have strong local governments who collect and spend this tax in the same area.
People tend to be more inclined toward paying property tax when they see the results in their locality and can see who is accountable for it as opposed to it disappearing into a black hole in the Department of Finance. – Yours, etc,
PAUL WILLIAMS,
Kilkee,
Co Clare.
Foreign policy and ‘notions’
Sir, – The other 29 states at French president Emmanuel Macron’s meeting of the “coalition of the willing” to establish a reassurance force for Ukraine, could be forgiven for wondering what Micheál Martin was doing there (“European leaders oppose any lifting of sanctions on Russia as part of ceasefire”, World, March 28th).
An Taoiseach told your reporter: “Ireland would be willing to consider contributing troops to a peacekeeping force”. The Army is 1,000 soldiers short of its tiny establishment of 7,500 and has an actual reserve strength of around 1,400. From quite where these peacekeepers would come is unclear.
For comparison, also present at the meeting was President Christodoulides of Cyprus, with population size 20 per cent of that of Ireland. He commands an army of 12,000 and a reserve strength of 60,000.
Cyprus spends 2 per cent of GDP on defence; Ireland 0.2 per cent.
Clearly the idea of An Taoiseach lecturing Europe in defence deterrence is a lesson in the Irish concept of “having notions”. – Is mise,
KENNETH HARPER,
Burtonport,
Co Donegal.
Strange times
Sir, – I’m a 70-year-old man, and time has always seemed to fly by – until now. I have to say that these first two months of Donald Trump’s presidency have felt unusually long. In fact, I suspect the next three years and 10 months are going to feel like a slow march through wet concrete.
Perhaps it’s just me, but for a man who prides himself on speed and efficiency, Mr Trump has certainly found a way to make time stand still. – Yours, etc,
ENDA CULLEN,
Armagh.
A new home for Frank McNally?
Sir, – Further to John Glennon’s letter (March 22nd), considering the many choices for our next president, the answer is there, before our very eyes, at the top right of the letters page. Frank McNally. But could we forgo his Irish Diary? Maybe an Áras Diary would suffice? – Is mise,
FIONA SMYTH,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.
Practical help for cancer patients
Sir, – I’m a young person living with a cancer, which makes obtaining the insurance required by law to get a mortgage in this country an impossibility. It’s always great to see politicians showing their support for Daffodil Day by wearing their pins.
But every year I think to myself it would be great if the support was backed up by actions that improve the quality of life for people like myself. – Yours, etc,
SAM RUSSELL,
Sallins,
Co Kildare.
Raising the flag
Sir, – Frank McNally’s effervescent piece of William Bulfin (Diary, March 23rd) noted that Eamon Bulfin (William’s son) raised the “republican flags” over the GPO in 1916.
Eamon Bulfin was indeed responsible for raising the “Irish Republic” flag. Fortunately, its flagstaff was broken during the fighting, leaning away from the building, ensuring the survival of this incredibly important artefact that is now displayed in the National Museum.
Bulfin did not raise the Tricolour, as Patrick Pearse ordered Gearóid O’Sullivan to do it. O’Sullivan’s role was later celebrated at different stages by Cumann na nGaedheal and Fianna Fáil. At the reopening of the GPO in 1929, following a speech by WT Cosgrave, O’Sullivan hoisted the tricolour. On the 25th anniversary in 1941, with Fianna Fail in power, he was chosen to lower the Tricolour to half-mast.
In 1948, his military funeral to Glasnevin cemetery, with his coffin draped in the Tricolour that had covered the coffin of Michael Collins, passed by the GPO. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK CALLAN,
Portmarnock,
Co Dublin.
Changing the clocks
Sir, - Whatever about the clocks going forward one borrowed hour, I find my bones springing enthusiastically towards the sun god. It was a miserable winter as winters tend to be, so I welcome the timely reminder to spring forward. – Yours, etc,
AIDAN RODDY,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – Perhaps each week we could turn the clocks back to let the “in Government but also in Opposition” technical group speak for an hour then spring that hour forward each Saturday to return to Greenwich Mean Time. Preferably with both the speaking and the springing occurring at 1am. – Yours, etc,
DAVID CURRAN,
Knocknacarra,
Galway.
Sir, – In referencing his mother’s attitude to moving the clock forward at this time of year (Letters, March 28th), Enda Cullen alerts me to my own mother’s attitude to putting the clocks forward. “Sure just leave the clocks alone for the moment, I need to get used to the change over the next week or two.” – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL GANNON,
Kilkenny.
The Irish Times – 1,001 uses
Sir, – I am mostly digital at home, but I look forward to my daily delivery of The Irish Times. When I’m done, I collect the old copies and bring them to the local vet, who uses the old copies to line the cages of animals who stay overnight. – Yours, etc,
ALAN KELLY,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.
