A chara, – In the recent past Irish nationalists have been mocked for complaining about weather maps that end at the coast of Monaghan or questioning the increasing use of “Ireland and Northern Ireland” to refer to the two political units on the island, not least by commentators in this newspaper.
The consequences of this partitionist mindset were on full view for all to see in your recent special “5 challenges for rural Ireland” (Weekend Review, June 29th). Six pages of articles on the plight of rural Ireland and not one whisper about the North.
Do developments in Newry affect villages in Louth or Monaghan? Would the lakes of Fermanagh be of any interest to a tourist based in Cavan or Leitrim? Are the 671,559 residents of the Belfast Metropolitan Area (2011 census) worth thinking about when planning infrastructure spending or worrying about the dominance of Dublin? We’ll have to look beyond the pages of The Irish Times to find out. – Yours, etc,
DONNACHA KIRK,
London, UK.