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Dear Oireachtas Member, RTE's Chief News Correspondent,
Charlie Bird, was asked recently to investigate
why the PEOPLE of the Republic of Ireland continue to
be kept in ignorance regarding the extremely important
international Aarhus Convention Agreement signed in
1998, in spite of the requirement under Article
29,5,1 of our Constitution which states: "Every international
agreement to which the State becomes a party shall be laid before Dail
Eireann".
A copy of the e-mail sent on November 23rd to
Mr Bird can be seen at:
http://www.constitutionofireland.com/CharlieBirdRTE23Nov2004Email.htm . The above mentioned e-mail to Mr Bird followed
an earlier one to RTE relating to what I see as the
AMAZING MEDIA CENSORSHIP regarding the
Aarhus Convention Agreement, which has been going on here in Ireland
for well over six years now. It was sent to RTE's
Pat Kenny Show on October 31st 2004, the day
before his radio debate on INCINERATION, and a
copy can be seen at:
http://www.constitutionofireland.com/PatKennyEmail31Oct2004.htm .
In the event, Mr Kenny made NO mention at
all of the Aarhus Convention Agreement during his lengthy radio
discussion on incineration the following day.
My hope, and the main reason I am sending you this
e-mail, is that the majority of Oireachtas Members will now take steps to
ensure that there is a full and proper public debate on the Aarhus
Convention Agreement as soon as possible; and, that it will take place
well BEFORE the debate regarding the possible
ratification of the much more recent EU Constitution
agreement. In connection with this request, I further hope it may
help to point out that the doctrine of the tripartite separation
of powers advocates the distribution of the powers of
government among the three main institutions of our State:
legislative (Oireachtas), executive
(Government), and judicial (Courts): and that
this facility is embedded in our Constitution for the specific purpose of
LIMITING the power of each of these three institutions, and
ensuring that a healthy balance is maintained between them. (Reference
source: "Principles of Irish Law", pages 11
and 12, Sixth Edition, by barrister Dr. Brian
Doolan.)
As some of you will already know there are deep concerns in some
quarters that the EU Constitution would, if ratified using the present
wording, to a very large extent effectively NEGATE all of the
most important benefits of the Aarhus Convention Agreement, for the vast
majority of EU citizens.
Such concerns are strengthened by the fact that, in spite of
the European Community signing up for it on
25 June 1998, there is
NO mention at all of the Aarhus Convention
Agreement in the Environment section of the present
EU Constitution text soon to be considered here for ratification:
please see
http://europa.eu.int/futurum/constitution/part3/title3/chapter3/section5/index_en.htm .
For future reference purposes, a copy of this e-mail will be
placed at:
Yours sincerely,
William Finnerty.
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