Sir, - The editing of President Clinton's speech in the Odyssey in Belfast (The Irish Times, December 14th) showed a curious insensitivity to one of the central themes that he raised. Throughout the President's talk he referred to the importance of people working practically on the ground to develop the peace process.
During his speech, the President referred to Co-operation Ireland's Civic-Link programme as one practical example of progress on the ground being supported by his administration. In particular, he recalled the exchange of Knockbreda High School and St Joseph's (both in Belfast), two schools only a mile apart that had never before worked together. These two schools are now jointly working with Mullingar Community School in the Republic under the Civic-Link programme. These three schools are amongst the 70 participating in this programme this year.
The removal of all reference to Civic-Link in your "`edited version" left out the major practical example given by the President of how ordinary members of the public can build bridges and the peace process on the ground. This is particularly unfortunate when the President constantly urged public activity to help build the peace, remarking that "peace is not a spectator sport" and that "the enemies of peace don't really need your approval. All they need is your apathy." - Yours, etc.,
Tony Kennedy, Chief Executive, Co-operation Ireland, Upper Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2.