Madam, - I have always been very pro-Europe and I strongly believe that Ireland should try to be as committed to the European project as possible.
I was dismayed when the Lisbon Treaty was defeated and I decided that, rather than simply hope the treaty will be passed after a second campaign, I should get involved and assist with distributing factual information to counter the nonsense that the No campaign so successfully peddled the last time.
Having never been actively involved in a political campaign before (other than casting my vote), I turned to Google to research the best course of action. Unfortunately, it seems there is almost no information available for potential pro-Lisbon volunteers.
Searching Google using phrases such as "pro-Lisbon Ireland" or "Get involved Lisbon Treaty Ireland" returns almost exclusively No-campaign-oriented results or news items. Further research brings one to yestolisbon.ie, the website of the Alliance for Europe. Bizarrely, however, links on the site such as "Contact Us" and "Get Involved" don't work!
Libertas did a remarkable job of making it fashionable to Vote No, using a variety of tactics and misinformation to win the first campaign. Now that the Government has secured unnecessary but politically vital assurances from Europe that the treaty will have no effect on issues such as neutrality and abortion, as well as the very considerable concession of a retained commissioner, it would be a travesty if a foolhardy and incompetent Yes campaign was again out-manoeuvred by an agile, targeted and well-run No campaign.
Surely a good start would be getting a basic, functioning website up and running with a view to recruiting volunteers and distributing information. One need only look at the amazing achievement of Barack Obama to see what a vital campaign tool modern communications technology have become.
The Yes campaign needs to hit the ground running, not meander through the early stages of the campaign again. - Yours, etc,
Madam, - What kind of organisation is the EU that it can so blatantly disregard the democratic outcome of our last referendum on the Lisbon Treaty? And what kind of Government and main Opposition parties do we have that they have so obsequiously kowtowed to the EU, collaborating with it to oblige us to take part in yet another referendum on the same issue? As someone who voted Yes last June primarily for pro-democracy reasons, for the very same reasons I shall be voting No next time. - Yours, etc,
Madam, - I dread to think of my fate were I to suggest that when women say "No" they actually mean "Yes". When Irishwomen and Irishmen, by a substantial margin, say "No" to a proposition drafted to conceal rather than reveal its consequences they are treated as if they have not been endowed with reason or free will.
Patriots of a previous generation signed articles of agreement they didn't like in the belief that not to do so would mean "immediate and terrible war" unleashed on Ireland by a power that had not scrupled to murder her people for centuries.
Today's ascendancy in politics and the media would have Ireland's citizens believe that drastic and immeasurable horrors will be unleashed on them by the elites of 27 states, including their own, if they dare repeat the exercise in democracy of a few months ago.
It looks like trick or treaty time to me. - Yours, etc,
Madam, - Should we not, first of all, have a referendum to see whether or not we should have a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty? - Yours, etc,
Madam, — Patrick O'Byrne (December 13th) is thinking of voting No in a second referendum, apparently because he thinks the Lisbon Treaty will not now bring about full equality for same-sex couples or civil partnership. If he had been waiting for a civil partnership law to be enacted by the EU, he would, I believe, have been waiting in vain.
The aim of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, which would be enacted by the Lisbon Treaty, is to protect European citizens' rights against the EU. For example, if EU legislation discriminated against same-sex couples, a case could be brought to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
Laws regarding marriage or civil partnership as such are not, and will not be, an EU "competence". It will remain up to Ireland to make laws in that area, subject only to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. — Yours, etc,