Irish MEP outlines the harsh realities

The following is from Waterford Today, linked here, being the remarks of Kathy Sinnott MEP, the highlighted portions having been placed in bold by the editor of this blog:

Yesterday the European Parliament voted on an amendment on behalf of the GUE/NGL group to "Undertakes to respect the outcome of the referendum in Ireland." This Amendment was defeated by 499 votes against with only 129 in favour and 33 abstentions.

Commenting Kathy Sinnott, MEP for Munster said: "This vote has emphasised the contempt Ireland and the democratic process is held in by these EU institutions. The fact that fully 3/4 of MEPs actively and before the referendum has even occurred, have voted not to respect this democratic process, is horrifying. Why would this country vote to give the EU almost total control over us if they respect us so little?"

"France and the Netherlands were given at least the appearance of respect in that the EU changed the name of the constitution to the Lisbon Treaty and made some token changes after their no vote, but we are being told in advance how little we matter to the only democratically elected body in the EU. I wonder if Ireland votes the way these 499 MEPs want (Yes to the Treaty) will they still refuse to respect the outcome?"

"The organisational structure of the EU, with its 3 most powerful arms (Commission, Council, European Court of Justice) not being directly elected and only its weakest body, the Parliament, having a democratic mandate, may have sufficed when the EU was a loose union of sovereign countries. But with the Lisbon Treaty we will be formalising The EU as a state superseding the member "countries". This setup is no longer acceptable. It gives all the power to undemocratic institutions which have little or no transparency and on the evidence of yesterday's vote this trust is very much unwarranted."