A chara, – In an otherwise wretched record over many centuries six British leaders made some kind of effort to resolve the horrific legacy of British misrule in this country: Gladstone, Lloyd George, Heath, Thatcher, Major and Blair.
Gladstone’s efforts cost his government power and solved nothing. Lloyd George “shelved” the problem from 1921 till 1968, condemning the Northern minority to several lost generations of near apartheid-scale humiliation and discrimination in which successive Clann na Gael, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and Clann na Poblachta Dublin administrations acquiesced by hiding behind the distraction of a ludicrous policy of irridentist and completely irrelevant anti-partitionism and doing nothing to defend or even to communicate with that “invisible” community. Heath also made a brave attempt with Cosgrave at Sunningdale, but it was betrayed by the cowardice of the Wilson administration in face of the loyalist strike. Thatcher’s best effort (in the face of violent loyalist rejection) was in the ground-breaking Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985 with FitzGerald which she later disowned as Haughey had unforgivably earlier done. Major’s contribution was in the commendable Downing Street Declaration in response to Hume’s brilliant formulae which he inadequately adopted under pressure from Albert Reynolds.
Tony Blair gave a higher priority to resolving the issue in terms of priority of time, patience, respect, intellectual energy and unflinching determination than any British leader in history. It took many years and frequently seemed a lost cause. He succeeded. Of course we can only pray that the results which he and Bertie Ahern created will endure. That will happen only if leadership both in London and in Dublin continues to give the delicate plants that they created through the Belfast and St Andrew’s Agreements unremitting joint focus and unyielding joint support.
We owe him more than we do any British leader or party in history. It is a compliment to Irish nationalists that he is launching his autobiography partly in Dublin. And we owe him the courtesy of assuming that his involving his own country in the Iraq war – even if an unfortunate mistake – was sincere in its intent. By all means those who are moved to do so should protest. Any protests which fail to reflect the minimum of the respect we owe this man would be shameful to this country. – Is mise,
Madam, – Further to Dr Colum Farrelly’s letter (August 27th), surely the best way to “denigrate the author” in this case is, in addition to not buying the book, is for people to sign the book of condolences at the daily stalls outside Eason’s in O’Connell Street, Dublin and to join the public demonstration in the capital on September 4th.
Such actions will go some way to commemorate the dead victims of Mr Blair’s wars and his flawed foreign policies on Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Tony Blair is a perpetrator of aggressive war; the Nuremberg trials clearly established aggression as a war crime; I am sure that Blair’s forthcoming book will make some attempt to justify the criminality.
But the joint letter to which I added my name (August 26th) did not ask for the volume to be banned, merely that it should not be deliberately promoted. Dr Colum Farrelly’s accusation of censorship is therefore wide of the mark. The book will be available in shops and libraries for people to buy or to reject, just like Mein Kampf or The Protocols of the Elders of Zion or Malleus Maleficarum, whose authors, if alive, would presumably receive no invitation to a book-signing or a deferential interview on TV.
The promotion of an obnoxious volume gives it a great deal of publicity, which will not be much increased by public remonstration; the public has a right to remonstrate. – Yours, etc,