Critic was right to query commission’s response to treaty issues

I WISH to respond to Barry Walsh’s criticism (June 20) of the letter from Michael O’Driscoll (June 17) regarding the role of the Referendum Commission in relation to the yes side in the Lisbon Treaty campaign.

Mr O’Driscoll is thoroughly correct in calling into question the appropriateness of the contribution made by the commission on this occasion.

Although legally exonerated under the 2001 act from the duty of itemising its every utterance in terms of pro and contra positions, the commission surely had obligations of objectivity and impartiality that were hardly discharged in the case of Lisbon.