The Irish government must give the Irish electorate five months or more to read the Lisbon Treaty and engage in public debate about it. This is a basic democratic and Constitutional right and, if necessary, this should be enforced through the high court/supreme court. The Irish people cannot have an EU Constitutions (Lisbon Treaty) rammed down their throats without giving them adequate time to read and understand what's being offered to them and make up their own minds. This Lisbon Treaty has far-reaching effects on our Irish Constitution, laws and legal rights.

The business and tax provisions of the Lisbon Treaty will affect Irish business and Irish workers. We need time to publicly analyse, examine, debate and, if necessary, amend these provisions to protect Irish economic interests. There are many social partners in Ireland and their involvement in national pay agreements helped Ireland recover and grow rapidly over the last 15 years; their views and feedback are of much greater importance than those of faceless bureaucrats in Brussels who design and draft treaties but are accountable to no one.

I think that the Irish people need more time to read, understand, debate, and analyse the Lisbon Treaty, and weigh up the arguments for and against this treaty. At least five more months will be necessary to do this. I urge the Fianna Fáil-led government to immediately provide the contents of the Lisbon Treaty and a detailed synopsis of this treaty in all national and local newspapers, government web-sites, public leaflets and booklets, libraries, schools, churches, universities, etc and start open public debates in schools, community halls, colleges and universities throughout Ireland. And give us the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty at the end of October when we would have a better idea what it is all about.

Yours sincerely,
John Lohan,
Galway

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