Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Letters to the Editor: 'EU officials showed true agenda for Brexit Britain'

The BBC broadcast a series about the EU’s side of the protracted Brexit negotiations.

It was assumed this would happen after the UK had left the EU, allowing frank discussions to be recorded.

One of these showed Guy Verhofstadt’s assistant gloating at the effect of the WA on the UK. He said the deal would make the UK the EU’s first colony.

Please log in or register with Independent.ie for free access to this article.

Log In

New to Independent.ie? Create an account

He was smiling, but as the saying goes “many a true word is said in jest”.

Other commentators, such as Yanis Varoufakis, have described the WA as “one only a country defeated in war would acquiesce to”.

Essentially it would leave us members of the EU – but without voting rights. Making us subject to all the rules and regulations of the EU with any disputes settled by the ECJ and unable to negotiate trade deals – and still crucially without a trade deal with the EU.

Theresa May has proven herself to be weak and incompetent. She has behaved like someone who never believed in Brexit; someone constantly trying to mitigate its harmful effects.

Ireland was subjected to over 800 years of colonial rule. They know from bitter experience what this feels like. Given this, one wonders why the Irish were willing participants in this attempt to make a colony of the UK. Do they relish the thought of revenge – or are they simply trying to protect themselves and are innocent bystanders at what is to befall the UK? On this side of the Irish Sea we tend, perhaps uncharitably, to think the former.

We Brexiteers see the deal that humiliates us into becoming a powerless colony of the EU as so dreadful that no-deal looks wonderful by comparison.

John Condon

Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Cocaine convictions will no longer be deterrent to use

With regard to the latest move by our Government to remove the threat of criminal conviction for the first and second time someone is caught in possession of cocaine for personal use: The threat of a criminal conviction even though the possibility of being caught was low, was a deterrent to intelligent people.

The drug lords are now presented with an affluent target market of 50pc of the two million people aged between 16 and 45 and I am sure they must be considering using social media for advertising their wares. Our Government is also considering making religious education in our schools optional so that our youth can start life without the encumbrance of the out-of-date baggage like the Ten Commandments, the New Testament or the Quran.

Hugh Duffy

Cleggan, Co Galway

Mandarins at Croke Park are letting down the people

Tomas Ó Sé said on the Sunday Game on RTÉ that it was a disgrace that what were effectively All-Ireland Championship quarter-finals were not available on free-to-air TV on Saturday evening last.

The games in Castlebar and Navan had a huge appeal for a great many people and it’s a crying shame that our national games were not available on our national broadcaster.

The many thousands who don’t have access to Sky TV feel let down by the mandarins in Croke Park. Many of those same people have given a lifetime of volunteering to the GAA and now feel that their years of selfless work is totally undervalued by the powers that be at headquarters. It appears that the old adage is true: “Eaten bread is soon forgotten.”

Tom Towey

Cloonacool, Co Sligo

Teenage litter louts are the product of bad upbringing

I was driving through a particular suburban part of Dublin last Friday at 2pm and waiting on the lights to turn green.

I watched as two young teenage girls walked out of a shop.

One of them was drinking what looked like a smoothie.

When she arrived at the other side of the road she simply tossed the container on to the footpath.

Neither of them looked around to check who was looking.

This seemed normal for them. I was genuinely shocked. Someone has let those teenagers down. Was it you?

Damien Carroll

Dublin 24

Women’s sport coverage will inspire more to compete

Great to see Darragh Small enthusiastically covering Dublin’s success over the weekend.

More of this please. Equal coverage for women’s sport is what’s needed to inspire the young women of this country.

Angi Crisp

Address with editor

Source: Read Full Article

Related Posts