Madam, - While the "bad loser" syndrome exhibited by the Lisbon Treaty apologists in your Letters Page, and throughout the media in general, has been vaguely distasteful I think that Niall Ginty (July 23rd) finally oversteps the mark.
While some Europeans may well be bewildered, many many millions more are openly thanking Ireland for the courageous campaign, mounted by the David of Sinn Féin and others against the Goliath of corporate wealth and the spineless Irish Congress Of Trade Unions, the united media front and the strange (and disturbing!) sight of Fianna Fáil, their "independent" lackeys, FG, the Labour Party, the Greens and that other lot cohabiting.
And thanking the Irish electorate for their refusal to be bullied and their considered and powerful message, delivered to the Euro-bureaucrats in Brussels and their henchmen, such as President Sarkozy.
It is a recognised fact that there is no "free lunch" and the price Ireland has paid, and will continue to pay, for the massive European investment of capital in our infrastructure should be discussed in more detail than in the letters pages of the national press.
Suffice, perhaps, to wonder at this time, just where all those fish did go, as we spend another hard-earned euro in one of the many "international" consumer outlets proudly lined up along Grafton Street!
For Niall Ginty to complain about "claptrap" and "outlandish. . . statements" in the same breath as he "bangs on" about the alleged security of Ireland's neutrality suggests to me that he has, quite simply (like a lot of our "democratically elected leaders" - DELs) not read the Lisbon Treaty.
It may be "breathtakingly illogical" to Mr Ginty, but I am comfortable in my belief that, unfortunately, the wealth and power wielded by the European arms industry and the likelihood of a European army becoming mired in the looming commodity wars of the near future, will not accommodate Ireland's desire to cherry pick which parts of this particular European project she wishes to participate in.
Mr Ginty wraps up his tirade (against the principle of democracy, it would appear) with the magnificent assertion that our "DELs", like some kind of Benevolent Uncle, should take us Naughty Children, the "confused electorate" aside, and make sure that when they, generously, give us another chance to vote on this issue we will get the answer right!
I, for one, have carefully worked my way through this "minefield. . . of jargon" and will be very clear on the reasons for casting my No vote. . . again.
As, I imagine, will an even larger percentage of the Irish electorate. - Yours, etc,
NICK McCALL, Glasdrumman Mór, Drumkeeran, Co Leitrim.
Madam, - The chaotic visit of French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently was to my mind compounded by the bizarre choice of representatives which Sinn Féin sent to meet him.
The party's delegates to the meeting were Gerry Adams and Bairbre de Brún - both of whom are members of the British parliament, and neither of whom had a vote in the recent referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Sinn Féin have been quick to condemn the influence of foreign governments in our ratification process, so why did they send members of a foreign parliament to meet Mr Sarkozy, supposedly on our behalf?
How can Mr Adams or Ms de Brún relay the will of those who voted No in the referendum, when they do not represent a single person who cast a vote in it?
The decision to send Mr Adams to have his three minutes with Mr Sarkozy seemed to have more to do with his own delusions of grandeur and self-image as an international statesman and "peacemaker", than it did with expressing the concerns of those who voted No to the Lisbon Treaty. - Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH, Brooklawn, Clontarf, Dublin 3.