Madam, - I can assure Maurice O'Donoghue (March 11th) that Fine Gael has been highly critical of the Taoiseach.
Nevertheless I must say that we disagree strongly with the idea that people should vote against the Lisbon Reform Treaty in protest at Mr Ahern's behaviour. Passing the treaty is in Ireland's interest. It would be foolhardy, a case of cutting off our noses to spite our faces, to vote against it. Hurting the country to hurt Fianna Fail would be counter-productive.
Voters will have plenty of opportunity to hurt Fianna Fáil in the local elections and the European elections. It would be a major mistake to hurt the entire country and its interests by voting against the Treaty and therefore I am calling on people, Fine Gael supporters and others, to vote Yes in the coming referendum. - Yours. etc,
BILLY TIMMINS TD, Fine Gael Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.
Madam, - Thanks to Maurice O'Connell for his excellent letter of March 14th outlining why he feels morally obliged to vote against the Lisbon Treaty.
I wholeheartedly agree: Ahern must go. He is unfit for the office of Taoiseach and clearly incapable of providing the decisive leadership needed in Ireland at this time.
Regarding the treaty itself, I find the brazen and sometimes disingenuous campaigning on the part of politicians seeking a decisive Yes vote completely counter to the spirit of democracy. It is also ironic that those who campaign for a Yes vote, including Environment Minister John Gormley, are strangely silent on the issue of Ireland's many serious breaches of EU environmental directives. These on-going transgressions are a far better indicator of Ireland's real willingness to fully embrace the concept of a European Union. The rest is just lip-service.
I am thankful that these directives do exist, to at least provide some measure of an international standard on the environment to which Ireland may aspire. Like Mr O'Connell, however, I feel that Ireland needs to get its own house in order first. The referendum should be cancelled and any decision on the treaty deferred until this is achieved.
I might add that the Greens and any "Independents" worthy of the name have a moral obligation to remove themselves from this mongrel Greena Fáil coalition. Rather like lancing a boil, it may hurt a little, but the end result will be worth it. - Yours, etc,
ANDY WILSON, Editor, Sustainability magazine, Sandyhill, Westport, Co Mayo.