Sir, - In yet another pro-PfP article in The Irish Times, Gay Mitchell argues that the Turkish earthquake disaster provides another reason why Ireland should join. The real lesson of the earthquake is that if the Turkish political elite had spent more money on properly regulated social housing instead of on the international arms trade, the consequences of earthquake would not have been so terrible.
Yet the Irish political elite is now proposing to spend billions of euros on the international arms trade in order to join NATO's PfP. PDFORRA envisages a 4,600-strong mechanised infantry and the purchase of strike aircraft. Yet the media, virtually all of which support PfP, never mention the costs. Neither do they mention that the ICTU is now formally opposed to PfP membership.
The Irish people are being sleepwalked into PfP, which we believe is only another step towards membership of NATO and a federal, nuclear-armed European superstate. No wonder the elite does not want a referendum. - Yours, etc.,
Roger Cole, Chair, Peace and Neutrality Alliance, Springhill Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin.