Sir, – Kathy Sheridan's article on the Irish Freedom Party, of which I am proud to be chairwoman, fairly and quite rightly mentioned that I have been successful in obtaining European Union funding for my research, including in auto-immune diseases, since being a group leader in the Max Planck Institute, and in the company I co-founded in Germany in 1997, Protagen AG, and also in Ireland ("Meet the Irish party that is happy to follow Farage's lead", Opinion & Analysis, April 3rd).
I have always recognised and appreciated this research funding, as well as working as an expert in the European Commission, and such experience should not prevent participation in discussions on the role and future of Ireland and the European Union.
In the Irish Freedom Party, we value sovereignty, democracy and Ireland’s neutrality. As the UK arrangements to leave the European Union will become clearer in the coming months, it is opportune to discuss Ireland’s future post-Brexit, including where Ireland, since 2014, is a net contributor to the EU budget, and where since 2017, Ireland has joined the EU Permanent Structured Cooperation (Pesco) and, a decade on, the impact of the bank bailouts and recapitalisation.
As the chairwoman of the Irish Freedom Party, I look forward to engaging with people up and down the country in the upcoming European elections and beyond. – Yours, etc,
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
Prof DOLORES J CAHILL,
Chairwoman,
Irish Freedom Party,
Dublin 6.