Madam, - Perhaps it's the effect of having lived in Brussels for 20 years, but when I read your newspaper I sometimes wonder whether Ireland is indeed a European state or a glorified Puerto Rico (or Guam, or American Samoa).
Your edition of July 16th provides some fine examples of the dichotomy. On the front page we read that Mr Sarkozy's remarks "anger Government ahead of French President's visit", and rightly so. But on page 7, we read that the Taoiseach is discussing the Lisbon Treaty referendum with the editorial board of. . .not Le Mondeor Frankfurter Allgemeineor El Païsor any other European opinion-maker which Ireland might need to influence at this point, but the Wall Street Journalin New York.
(All right, having hooked the Irish economic model so closely to that of the US, it is only natural that the leadership should scramble to America when the going gets rough - maybe to find that America has other things on its mind than the collateral damage being inflicted in Ireland.)
Down the road in Washington, Mr D. Ganley, whose sayings and doings the Irish media so generously promoted throughout the Lisbon referendum campaign, is briefing his friends in the Heritage Foundation on the fund-raising which "we" are doing across Europe and reassuring them that "we're" assessing the situation (page 7).
This same unelected spokesman of the American Way also expounds on the need to address the democratic deficit in Europe. Il faut le faire(if you'll excuse the French).
Finally, and most shamefully, in Geneva this week the Irish Attorney-General, asked about what the Irish State may have permitted at Shannon Airport (page 8), is able to repeat only what the US authorities have told him (\"assurances\" from President Bush and Condoleeza Rice on extraordinary renditions). And - we should be so lucky - "similar assurances had not been made available to other European states". Perhaps the Attorney-General could clarify when exactly Shannon Airport became part of the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the United States?
Mary Harney - she who derived such inspiration from the US health system, when the health systems which combine excellence with equality of access are in Europe, not in the United States - best expressed the mentality of the Irish political class in her Boston/Berlin speech. Since then, the prevailing preference would seem to have intensified rather than diminished. It's not surprising, in such a context, that the debate on "Europe" is always too little and too late.
Perhaps the political class does reflect the will of the people, and perhaps the people of Ireland are happy with Puerto Rico-plus status. But it seems to me that there is a real need in Ireland for a European-minded political class. We require public representatives who are capable of understanding that Ireland's only future is as a full partner in Europe rather than a mendicant in New York; clearsighted enough to admit that what we do get in New York we get because of our status in Europe and not for any other reason, economic or sentimental; above all, ready to contribute to the definition and promotion of European values, European interests and European standards of service, in Ireland and internationally. Someone younger than Garret FitzGerald, God bless him.
Is there anyone out there?
- Yours, etc,
MARIA McLOUGHLIN, Brussels, Belgium.