Sir, Devastated as I am by the IRA bomb detonated at London's Canary Wharf, I am no more devastated than I have been for a long time by the obstinate refusal of the British government and the two main unionist parties to utilise the much quoted "window of opportunity" uniquely offered to them and engage in all inclusive negotiations with Sinn Fein and indeed the Irish Government negotiations which have been and will be the only feasible vehicle to move all sides towards a democratic peace settlement on this island.
Before the IRA ceasefire, the British government promised an "imaginative" and "generous" response to a unilateral cessation of violence in itself a small enough promise, considering that, particularly after the revelation of secret talks between the IRA and the British, many observers believed in the possibility of a "secret deal". Yet after the ceasefire the government breached the good faith demonstrated by the IRA and laid down one precondition after the other proof of permanency, decommissioning, twin track, elections and what not thus erecting obstacle after obstacle in order to avoid the very dialogue which the ceasefire was supposed to bring about in the first place, and by stealth to try and force an internal solution back on the political agenda.
John Major quite obviously trusted that he could reap the benefits of a ceasefire without having to make any political concessions or any meaningful moves in the right direction. On the part of the British government, the "peace process" has been but a cynical exercise in stalling and stymieing. Some people do not like to hear it, but in the light of 17 months of deliberate British obduracy, the IRA, for what it is, has shown remarkable discipline and constraint.
While it is to be deeply deplored that yet again innocent people have lost their lives, there is no point whatsoever in returning to the long worn out routine of taking a moralistic stance or issuing ritual condemnations. In any country, society or community where there is political and indeed military conflict, the only valuable response lies in addressing the root causes of such conflict. Refusals to talk, coming from a self perceived position of moral superiority, have never led to any conflict resolution. In all other even vaguely comparable situations, be it South Africa, Palestine/Israel or Bosnia, policies of negotiation were courageously pursued even while violence continued.
Amongst ordinary people whether Irish or British, nationalist or unionist there is an overwhelming desire for talks, for dialogue, for negotiations leading not only to peace but to justice and equity.
This desire has been constantly frustrated by a British government allowing itself to be held to ransom by bigoted unionist politicians, who, like John Taylor, have the effrontery to call Catholics an ethnic minority in Ulster". We must direct our anger at the British government which has so utterly failed to show vision, imagination, generosity and has not even attempted to lead the unionists out of their entrenched positions of supremacy.
The truth is that the British government, apart from those short term considerations dictated by the expediency of parliamentary arithmetics, still has no fully formulated and coherent political strategy in regard to the future of Northern Ireland. While certain military and financial interests might favour a disengagement from the North, there are still those who cannot contemplate the long term effects on domestic, constitutional politics of any Irish settlement. They rightly fear that in the long run any such settlement will inevitably lead to, some form of unity with the South and to the end of the United Kingdom as we know it. Was it not Michael Mates who purged the British government to call the IRA's bluff and let them return to the armed struggle? Ballinclea Heights, Killiney Co Dublin.