MEPs vote to ‘ignore’ referendum result

I HAVE to question your silence on the fact that in the European Parliament’s vote on the Lisbon treaty last month, 499 MEPs, including Proinsías de Rossa, voted not to respect the outcome of the Irish referendum.

Further, that silence continued when Pierre Jonckheer, vice-president of the European Green Party in the parliament, speaking in Galway on March 6, said it was irrelevant what the Irish did in their referendum.

If the result was a ‘no’ to the Lisbon treaty, Europe would ignore it and carry on with the treaty.

And this silence was maintained when Senator Dan Boyle, chairman of the Irish Green Party, defended Mr Jonckheer’s assertion.

Let’s first clear the air. The Lisbon treaty must be ratified by all 27 member states or it cannot go ahead.

That is the legal position and it means an Irish ‘no’ vote is an automatic veto of the treaty binding the entire EU.

Any country is entitled to use a veto and no country can be punished for doing so.

A veto is not only a right — it is a guarantee.

The fact that the Irish people are being given their democratic right to vote on this treaty means we have an obligation to the entire EU to have all the facts of the debate, including that the European Parliament voted not to respect our referendum.

I found it disappointing that you did not report this important fact to the Irish people.

If the EU, as Mr Jonckheer seems to think, is so desperate to secure this treaty, with the additional powers it bestows on the union, that it is willing to break its own laws, then we must ask where the EU is heading.

I trust the law will be respected and an Irish ‘no’ will mean no and send the treaty back for serious revision because otherwise the rule of law that the EU says it stands for is a sham.

Kathy Sinnott MEP

‘St Joseph’s’

Ballinabearna

Ballinhassig

Co Cork