I am excoriated by A. Leavy from Sutton (Letters 29th Aug) for wanting to " underline the perceived elitist and undemocratic nature of the European project" whereas in fact I was criticising Minister Dick Roche for running the risk of doing so!!!  (Letter 27th. Aug).  Far from opposing Lisbon, as she alleges, I argued strongly for the Treaty as any perusal of my website  http://www.eurotrib.com/user/Frank%20Schnittger/diary will confirm.

However if the YES side doesn't learn from the mistakes of the Referendum campaign and the manner in which the Treaty was presented, there is no prospect of any positive outcome to this debacle. YES voters would be well advised to listen and read more carefully what NO voters and others are saying before adopting a hectoring tone and misrepresenting what they are saying.

The rest of my letter set out what needed to be done if the concerns of NO voters where to be taken on board and if there was to be any prospect of a successful outcome to our current stand-off with the other Member Government of the EU.  

The EU is a political Union and power sharing arrangement run in partnership with 26 other democratically elected Governments and for Libertas, Coir, and Sinn Fein to seek to undermine their democratic legitimacy by claiming to better represent their peoples views on the future of Europe is hardly the best way to maintain friendships and influence people.