Madam, - David Trimble's recent demand for further clarity from the IRA defies all belief. It is clear that the UUP is no longer committed to the cause of establishing peace in the North.
Where is the loyalist paramilitaries' public statement on decommissioning? Where do they stand on the matter of disarmament and what are their intentions in this respect?
What have they done in recent times that clearly indicates they have put their weapons beyond use? What gesture have they recently made which should inspire the republicans and indeed the general public with confidence in the peace process?
The fact is that the loyalists have issued no such statement on decommissioning. They have done nothing to clarify their own position on the issue of weapons and thus have done nothing to inspire the public's confidence in their end of the bargain. Incredibly, this glaring omission has been overlooked (if not deliberately ignored) by the general media north and south of the Border.
Until such time as the loyalist paramilitaries issue such a statement and back it up with action, David Trimble is not in a position to demand further concessions from the IRA. Yours etc.,
KEVIN HICKEY,
Larchfield Road,
Goatstown,
Dublin 14
... ...
Madam, - The current crisis in the so-called peace process concerns the amount and nature of the illegal arms just voluntarily destroyed by the IRA in the presence of Gen de Chastelain.
Surely the real question now is why are there any arms held by paramilitary organisations five and a half years after the Belfast Agreement was signed?
The Agreement was built on upholding the principles of constitutional democracy where weapons, or the threat of the use of weapons, clearly have no place. They were to be put beyond use some time ago and that was the understanding of people in this country when they supported the Agreement. In this sense it has been a fraud and we have been conned.
Last October, Tony Blair finally made a stand in Belfast when he said dramatic actions were required by the IRA to save the Agreement. But instead of insisting on total decommissioning by all paramilitaries, he was persuaded, probably by the Department of Foreign Affairs, to go ahead with elections to placate Sinn Féin without all weapons being put out of use as a pre-condition.
This has resulted in the one thing the Agreement was designed to avoid: the alienation of the middle ground in the North both in the SDLP and the UUP. It seems it will all end in a "mess", as Bertie Ahern has predicted, and the central fraud at the heart of the Agreement will, unsurprisingly, ultimately wreck it.
Perhaps a new start is needed and 1998 should be finally put behind us. - Yours etc.,
ROBIN BURY,
Military Road,
Killiney.
Co Dublin