We still have our sovereignty

Even though our rights are being stripped at every level, and our resources have been sold off, and we are enslaved to an avaricious financial system which cares nothing for our future, we are still a sovereign people. It is still our right to direct the affairs of our state, and it is the right of the citizens to decide our policies.

It is not true to say that we have lost our sovereignty to Europe. To lose or give away our sovereignty is an impossibility, as it is our natural and fundamental right as a people. Even if we could decide to give away our sovereignty, which we cannot, it would have to be by referendum, to change Bunreacht na hÉireann – and no such referendum has taken place.

If government acts as though our sovereignty is ‘gone’, temporarily or otherwise, then they are acting contrary to our sovereign rights and contrary to our constitution.

We should not accept liberal discussion about our fundamental rights as citizens or any encroachment into them. Such discussions are always to convince us that what is happening has some legitimacy in democracy and law; they are intended to create a space for attacking the people.

Government ministers are constantly telling us that our sovereignty is gone. The media and commentators accept this and therefore cannot counter that we should assert these rights; consequently the argument is limited. Once we accept someone’s right to enslave us then all we can do is debate the terms of our enslavement – not question the actual fact of the slavery itself.

As a people we can enter any arrangements we like with other peoples, or with alliances of other nations, like the EU, but these can only ever be equal relations – our sovereignty remains intact always.

If a relationship is one of subservience then let us call it that so people can understand the truth.

Deals made – whether entered into by government, or inner circles without even consulting government, the Dáil or, God forbid, the citizens – if these encroach on our sovereignty they are illegitimate. Just as debts accumulated from rack rents imposed by a landlord in the past would not stand once the tyrant was removed, we are not at all tied to the impositions of the IMF/ECB ‘deal’.

Only the people of Ireland should decide what debt is legitimate and what is not, and foolish or enslaving deals should not be entertained.

Diarmaid Ó Cadhla is national spokesperson for The People's Convention (CPPC) and editor of thefuture Initiative.

Image top: adrian, acediscovery.