Sir, - As we approach the Euro-elections, we would like to remind Irish citizens and voters of the way in which Patricia McKenna MEP single-handedly struck a blow for Irish democracy by taking, and winning, the 1995 McKenna court case.
As a result of that legal action by her, the Supreme Court laid down that it was unconstitutional of Irish Governments to spend public money seeking to obtain a particular result in a referendum. Between 1987 and 1995 successive Governments had spent taxpayers' money in a wholly one-sided and unfair fashion in several referendums.
The McKenna judgement brought to an end this outrageously undemocratic practice, which governments had never resorted to in referendums during the half-century before 1987. Because of Patricia McKenna's court victory all subsequent Irish referendums have been - and into the indefinite future will be - conducted on much fairer, more democratic lines.
In a referendum the people themselves, not their representatives, are legislating directly. It is important that the people's exercise of that function is not distorted or unfairly influenced by government abuse of public resources. In the McKenna judgement the Supreme Court made explicit a new civil right for Irish citizens - the right to equality in a constitutional referendum. It found that successive governments had violated that right by using public money in a one-sided manner.
It is as a result of the McKenna judgement that we have that valuable democratic innovation, the Referendum Commission. In last year's Good Friday Agreement and Amsterdam Treaty referendums the Referendum Commission, chaired by former Chief Justice T. A. Finlay, helped to foster a more politically aware public by giving objective information to voters on what the referendum propositions meant, and what the main arguments for and against them were. Doubtless the same will happen in future referendums.
Patricia McKenna went to considerable personal risk in taking her court action. She launched it before she was ever elected an MEP. If she had lost and had had legal costs awarded against her, she would have suffered grievous financial damage. She acted as she did because of her belief, which was happily vindicated by the Supreme Court, that taking legal action was the only way to end an abuse of democracy which had been tolerated by the politicians of all our major parties for nearly a decade.
We remind voters of these facts, although we are not necessarily in agreement with Patricia McKenna's views on other matters. This letter has not been instituted by her, nor is its existence known to her before its publication. It has been written, and we sign it, because we believe that citizens should be reminded of the great service to our democracy rendered by this remarkable Irishwoman, who is seeking re-election as a Member of the European Parliament on June 11th. All of us citizens, whether we are aware of it or not, are in her debt. - Yours, etc., Anthony Coghlan,
Crawford Avenue, Dublin 9.
Also signed by: Robert Ballagh; Melanie Le Brocquy; Ronnie Drew; Gloria Frankel; Prof Brendan Kennelly; Prof Declan Kiberd; John de Courcy Ireland; Mick Lally; Prof Joe Lee; Prof James Lydon; Sr Majella McCarron; Terence McCaughey; Uinseann MacEoin; Matt Merrigan; Christy Moore; Brian P. Murphy, OSB; Dervla Murphy; Emmet O'Connell; Bob Quinn; John Robb; Richard Roche.