The Worst Reason (So Far) to Vote No

A letter-writer in Saturday's Irish Times is worried that the Lisbon Treaty

will not affect the continued application of the provisions of the Irish Constitution in relation to the right to life, education and the family

Yes, worried. Agitated he is, as in their different ways, are the newspaper's contributors Sarah Carey and Fintan O'Toole, that their fellow Irish citizens should keep any power to make law for themselves.

Neither democracy nor subsidiarity has value in their eyes and for the letter-writer even the "European project" comes second to other priorities:

One interpretation of this wording could mean that we in Ireland will never get full equality for same-sex couples or indeed legalised civil partnership. If this is the case, I shall be voting No in the second referendum, no question

There are many voters who think like that; I meet them nearly every day.

(Sigh)