Madam, - Your Editorial of November 13th is both out of place and fraught with factual error. To suggest President Vaclav Klaus breached diplomatic protocol in expressing a view upheld by a clear majority of Irish voters in a recent referendum beggars credibility.
May I remind you that Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, attended a meeting of the European People's Party in Dublin when on a diplomatic visit last April, in what could only be described as a thinly veiled propaganda push for a Lisbon Treaty Yes vote? What was this if not partisan? Yet there was no suggestion of a breach of diplomatic protocol on that occasion.
Furthermore, your assertion of an alliance "dominated by right-wing opponents of deeper EU integration" is patently false, given that one of the most prominent people at the Libertas meeting was Austrian MEP Hans-Peter Martin, a popular left-leaning institutional reformer and former head of the Socialist Democrats.
As a newspaper which has been blatant in its support for Lisbon and dismissive of the will of the Irish people, your Editorials might at least try to convince readers of the benefits of the Lisbon Treaty based on its own merits (of which there are many), instead of unsuccessfully attempting to demonise its detractors.
That is merely a continuation of the unsuccessful tactics employed by the Yes campaign last spring. - Yours, etc,
Madam, - It is unacceptable for a visiting head of state to interfere in the internal political affairs of another country while on an official visit. The obvious exception to this general principle arises when the visit is to a country which does not itself tolerate free speech; the letter from Simon McGuinness of Cuba Support Group Ireland entirely misses this point (November 13th). The interference is compounded when the countries in question are friends and colleagues within the EU.
A visiting president on a state visit may have the right to meet whomsoever she or he pleases on a private basis, but it is discourteous in the extreme as well as a breach of protocol for her or him to hold a joint public press conference, with a clear political purpose, with an individual who was elected by no one and whose views are at variance with the those of the Government and all the major political parties.
But the most insulting and unacceptable gesture of all was the egregious comparison made by President Klaus between Mr Declan Ganley and "dissidents" in the Soviet-era dictatorship in Czechoslavakia. Most such individuals were working for the restoration of democracy and human rights and it was appropriate for representatives and individuals from democratic states to support them in their struggle.
Ireland is not a Communist dictatorship. Indeed, while the Czech president did not, apparently, notice this point, it is a functioning parliamentary democracy with a rather longer unbroken tradition of free speech and freedom of political opposition than that of the Czech Republic.
The Czech government should now make a public statement apologising for this grievous breach of conduct and distancing itself from the actions of its president. As an Irish citizen, I regard his comportment and remarks as inappropriate, unfriendly and utterly unprofessional.
I do not think for one second that this president's bizarre behaviour in any way reflects the views and behaviour of the Czech government or people. Very many Czechs are now working in Ireland and are very welcome here. The country has a proud tradition in literature and culture. It is and will remain a valued member of the EU and international community.
Finally, I note the hypocrisy of the reactionary faction of the anti-Lisbon lobby (there is a progressive faction as well, but they are a small minority of No voters) who so frequently speak of foreign interference in Ireland's affairs, except when the interference is on their side.
As Peter Murtagh's excellent piece in yesterday's edition all too clearly demonstrates, we should have a long, hard look at Libertas's new bedfellows. This is a re-emerging European hard right of xenophobes, racists, isolationists and extreme nationalists. Their agenda would plunge Europe back into the 1930s. Let us not throw away everything which we and our neighbours have gained since that time. - Yours, etc,