Sir, - Does Heinrich Hall (May 30th) think that the Irish people are so naive as to believe that the Germans and the French, for example, acted out of philanthropy towards the backward nations of Europe for the past 40 years? Of course they did not, and will not in future. The EU will eventually be enlarged to include those countries of Eastern Europe which want to join. Like Ireland, they will benefit from membership and Ireland will contribute to their success because it will benefit Ireland in the long run. So, Mr Hall, don't insult my intelligence by asking me to believe that Ireland owes something to Eastern Europe or that we should be slavishly grateful to our European neighbours for their "generosity".
My point still stands that the referendum may be lost because of the complacency of the Yes campaign in not outlining the benefits of European enlargement for Ireland. The No campaign is trotting out the usual arguments for almost every referendum held in Ireland in the past 20 years, but these are things that ring a bell with the voters. The benefits of EU membership for the citizens of Slovenia or Slovakia mean very little to the people of Ireland.
Incidentally Mr Hall's attempt at mind-reading was a failure. This "Little Irelander" will be voting Yes to the Nice Treaty because I believe it will benefit Ireland and for no other reason. - Yours, etc.,
Michael Dolan, Wilderness Grove, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.