Madam, - Mary Lou McDonald (April 7th) misrepresents both the European Constitution and the way it was prepared.
The Convention which drafted the text was an unprecedentedly open exercise, bringing together for the first time public representatives from across the full spectrum of European opinion. This is quite apparent from a glimpse at the Irish membership: John Bruton, Dick Roche, Pat Carey, John Gormley and Proinsias De Rossa - a broad church by any reckoning.
All of its working papers were immediately published on the web and can still be viewed there. Yes, and as would be entirely normal, its steering Committee, or Praesidium - on which John Bruton was a representative of national parliaments - prepared initial texts. But even a cursory examination of the documentation will show that very major changes were made to many of these in response to subsequent debate in the Convention plenary and to the thousands of amendments proposed by Convention members, including Dick Roche for the Irish Government.
The Convention itself adopted its final report by consensus. And the final Constitution was, of course, agreed by the democratically elected leaders of the 25 member-states.
In terms of the substance of the Constitution, it gives national parliaments a greater role than ever before in policing proposed legislation. It greatly enhances the role of the European Parliament in which Ms McDonald sits. It will reinforce dialogue between the EU, the social partners, civil society and the churches. It requires all EU legislation to be made in public by the directly elected Parliament and by democratically elected Governments. And it allows for citizens' petitions.
Taken together, these changes will help make the Union significantly more transparent, open and democratic.
In rejecting the Constitution Ms McDonald and Sinn Féin are, in the name of protecting our national sovereignty, in reality seeking not a more democratic Union, but a less cohesive and effective one. That would be directly contrary to our clear national interest in the continuing success of the EU, within which we have been able to realise our sovereignty and better the lives of our people far more effectively than we ever did outside. - Yours, etc.,
NOEL TREACY TD, Minister for European Affairs, Dublin 2.
Madam, - Writing on the EU Constitution, Mary Lou McDonald expresses her opposition to that which takes "power further away from ordinary people and puts it in the hands of unelected or unaccountable people". She further complains of the "democratic deficit" and a "small unaccountable elite".
If these are Ms McDonald's real views, could she explain how they are compatible with her joining and remaining in a party intimately interwoven with the IRA? - Yours, etc.,
SEAN McDONAGH, Bettyglen, Raheny, Dublin 5.