Not speaking our language

I READ that we have joined the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the OIF, the French equivalent of the Commonwealth (MoS, October 14).

And supposedly this will help us cope with Brexit.

What nonsense! We know that our trade, cultural and every other kind of links with Britain are vast. It is a joke to pretend we’ll be able to carry on happily once the UK is out of the EU, abandoning all those British ties and replacing them instead with French-speaking nations across the world.

We have little or no common ground with France or its former colonies. Many of us studied some French in secondary school but could barely speak a word of it now.

All our political efforts should be focused on getting the best possible Brexit deal for Ireland and the UK. This French farce is a distraction. Maeve Kelly, Dublin 12.