Sir, - The undersigned are voters in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and Bray electoral areas. We are horrified at the Government's decision to bring Ireland into the so-called Partnership for Peace without a referendum, despite Fianna Fail's 1997 election promises, despite what Bertie Ahern and David Andrews have said previously, and despite the public's 71 per cent support for a referendum.
We wrote to all candidates for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Council, Bray Urban District Council and Wicklow County Council (Bray and Greystones), and to the candidates for the Dublin and Leinster constituencies for the European Parliament, asking them to support a referendum on PfP.
In all, we wrote 126 letters and 43 (over one-third) resulted in support for a referendum. Only three people indicated their opposition to a referendum and the remainder did not reply. Support for a referendum has come from candidates from every political party. This gives the lie to Mr Ahern's claim that the local and Euro elections can be a referendum on PfP membership.
The results show that if the leadership of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, and the Progressive Democrats ignore the majority who favour a referendum, they also ignore import elements of their own parties.
We are urging voters in the areas polled to vote for the candidates who support a referendum, and would hope that voters in other areas might do likewise. - Yours, etc.,
Raymond Deane, Haigh Terrace, Dun Laoghaire; Mary Diskin, Woodbrook Glen, Bray; John de Courcy Ireland, Grosvenor Terrace, Dalkey; Kevin McCorry, Eaton Wood Court, Shankill; Seamus O Brogain, Corbawn Drive, Shankill.