Sir, - The price we pay for the benefit of a free press must occasionally lie in having to endure the waste of space and newsprint expended on Robert Ballagh's incoherent ramblings on the deaths of the 1981 hunger strikers (News Features, April 30th). These people made personal decisions regarding the termination of their lives, a privilege not afforded to the countless innocent victims who died in obscene and frightful conditions when caught in the crossfire of the "armed struggle" since 1970.
Mr Ballagh's reflections might be more appropriately directed to a brief recollection of all those who yet grieve for loved ones, the atrocity at Omagh being a prime example. - Yours, etc.,
William F. Cooper, BA, Artane, Dublin 5.
Sir, - I sincerely hope that, in his reply to my article dealing with the 20th anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands, Kevin Myers was not suggesting that I am insensitive to any of the personal tragedies suffered on all sides in the North during the past 30 years.
I would like to remind him that, as an artist, many years ago, I created a memorial wall in Belfast city centre, dedicated to all those who had lost their lives as a consequence of political violence. At the time, the figure for fatalities stood at 2,000. Sadly, few of us realised than that this figure would rise much higher, - Yours, etc.,
Robert Ballagh, Dublin 7.