Dear Editor,
I must say that as a supporter of Fianna Fáil, I am sorely disappointed with its handling of the Lisbon Treaty issue. I have the following specific concerns about the Lisbon Treaty:

The Irish people were not consulted in the drafting and design of this treaty. The Irish and EU governments could and should have used the media, national and local newspapers, television, the Internet, the universities and colleges, churches, workplace newsletters, etc to get the views and concerns of the Irish people at the planning and accompanying feedback stages. This treaty was drafted in secret by bureaucrats such as d'Estaing, who is elitist and undemocratic in his attitudes. d'Estaing himself is on record as saying that it is the old EU Constitution slightly amended, the same EU Constitution which was rejected in EU referendums a few years ago. Secret deals have been cut by politicians behind closed doors, there was no transparency and no democratic accountability and responsibility taken for these secret deals and decisions. The ordinary people were not involved at any stage and not informed; in fact the vast majority of people in the EU are ignorant of the contents of the Lisbon Treaty. The Lisbon Treaty is a dictatorial imposition on Irish and European peoples; this is fascism not democracy.

The Irish government has demanded that Irish people vote for the Lisbon Treaty, but they have not published the contents of the Lisbon Treaty and made it available to the Irish people as of mid-April 2008. There is no detailed synopsis of the treaty in the national and local newspapers, government web sites, public leaflets and booklets, libraries, schools, churches, universities, etc. Yet the government is going to hold a Referendum in May 2008 and most Irish people still do not know what the Lisbon Treaty contains!! Why is the Irish government keeping the Irish people in ignorance about the treaty? Why are they not informing the people? Why is the government not allowing enough time for public debate about the treaty? We, the Irish people should have at least five months to read the Treaty and/or a synopsis of the treaty and have time to engage in public debate about the treaty, and carefully weigh up the arguments for and against the treaty. Are the Irish government deliberately avoiding public debate on the Lisbon Treaty, are they deliberately keeping people un-informed and hoping to provide biased information about the treaty three weeks before the referendum and then rush through the Lisbon Treaty in mid May? This is anti-democratic and very much against the spirit of Irish democracy and European democracy.