Madam, - Kathy Sinnott MEP (November 19th) asks for a legally binding article, annex or protocol to be added to the Lisbon Treaty on abortion, among other issues. She asks for this to ensure that the EU cannot interfere with Ireland's sovereignty in the matter.
However, such a protocol already exists from the time of the Maastricht Treaty, so she is effectively demanding something, as one condition for supporting the Lisbon Treaty, that is already in place, and which would have remained in place if there had been a Yes vote to the Treaty.
The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, was among those who confirmed that the Lisbon Treaty does not change the legal position on abortion in Ireland.
Some of the claims made by Ms Sinnott during the Lisbon Treaty campaign beggared belief, especially given her status as a MEP, and this request further illustrates how unreasonable her campaigning on the Treaty continues to be. - Yours, etc,
Madam, - We may never know the truth of how the Sunday Times morphed from being a quality paper of some balance to a naked opponent of the Lisbon Treaty as any semblance of impartiality in its coverage was thrown away in the last few weeks of the referendum campaign. It actively promoted the anti-treaty view without ever acknowledging how why or by whom it had been influenced, if not directed.
No matter what side one was on, it is not credible to think that the ST attack on Lisbon was not planned and premeditated. I was so disgusted that I wrote to its editor to say I would no longer buy the paper (letter not published and no reply). I am glad to say I haven't bought or read it since.
I have no objection whatever to English papers circulating in Ireland - on the contrary, its important to hear different points of view - but I think it is disgraceful of them to attempt to influence matters here in line with the narrow-minded agenda of English "Sinn Féiners". Hurrah for Sarah Carey (Opinion, November 19th) and piffle to Frank Fitzgibbon's version of events (November 20th). - Yours, etc,
Madam, - Two articles in last Wednesday's Irish Times that made interesting reading. One was Sarah Carey's rather petulant, self-serving piece about her "difficulties" in expressing her pro-Lisbon views in The Sunday Times . Well, whatever about the truth of those claims, she need have no worries about finding space for such opinions in The Irish Times. In all my years of reading newspapers in Ireland I have never come across such obvious bias as that displayed by The Irish Times in its coverage of the Lisbon Treaty.
During the referendum campaign I counted at least eight Editorials calling for a Yes vote, including one which insultingly suggested that if we voted No we would be "out of our collective minds".
Since the referendum which, need I remind you, resulted in the Lisbon Treaty being rejected, the so-called paper of record has continued, on an almost daily basis, to insult the majority who voted No by publishing articles which have only one purpose and that is to undermine that democratic choice made by the Irish people.
I believe Irish democracy was well served by papers like The Sunday Times who brought some balance into the national debate on the Lisbon Treaty.
Deirdre de Burca, in her article, seemed to think that democracy will be well served by the sub-committee that has been established by the Oireachtas to examine Ireland's future in Europe. Well, once again, I feel I have to remind you that a majority of the electorate voted against Lisbon, yet this committee of 12 contains, according to my reckoning, only two public representatives who campaigned for a No vote. Once again, as far as this particular issue is concerned, "democracy can wait"! - Yours, etc,
Madam, - Kathy Sinnott's comment (November 19th) about "how much Ireland values having its own commissioner" is ambiguous at best, if not misleading.
The European Commission and therefore the individual commissioners represent the interests of the European Union as a whole and not any individual member-states.
Therefore Ireland does not have its "own commissioner". Rather, the European Commission has a commissioner from Ireland as it also has a commissioner from each of the other member-states. - Yours, etc,