Sir, - Garret FitzGerald's laudatory and supportive comments (Opinion, March 20th) about the EU Commission leave us speechless but, fortunately, not wordless.
Has he not read and heard the many exposures of their incompetence - a direct result of a faulty system which disempowers the elected members of the European Parliament? The same system gives uncheckable powers to faceless non-elected people.
Garret FitzGerald almost admits Ireland got a horrible wrongful deal in the Common Fisheries Policy. In the next paragraph he goes on to say "the Commission is and will remain an essential safeguard against being exploited or bullied"!
When Dr FitzGerald was Minister for Fisheries in 1977 and Ireland had a chance to extend its exclusive fishery limit to 50 miles, he refused to block the Hague Agreement because this would have been "extremely disruptice of Community solidarity, offensive to our partners - and would have caused great irritation".
We feel great irritation indeed, especially knowing that these same partners in the EU take over £2 billion worth of fish a year from Irish waters without one penny benefit to the Irish people.
Just think what benefits would flow to the whole Irish economy and, in particular, to the 20 per cent most disadvantaged people of Ireland who live on the west coast if this situation were rectified.
It is difficult to be a europhile like Dr FitzGerald in circumstances such as these.
It is particularly important that Dr FitzGerald and other interested parties of influence use their powers to alter this grave social and economic wrong. - Yours, etc.,
Donal O'Driscoll, Chairman, T. M. HASSETT, Secretary, Irish South & West Fishermen's Organisation, The Pier, Castletownbere, Co Cork.