Madam, - Your obituary of Gerry Fitt (April 27th) included the following observation: "Fitt's greatest electoral triumph came in March 1966 when he beat Unionist Mr Jim Kilfedder to take the Westminster seat of West Belfast by 2,000 votes.
What you neglected to say in your otherwise excellent obituary to a great Irishman was that Mr Fitt fought that election on a Republican Labour ticket and it was estimated at that time that he received a substantial number of votes from Protestant workers in the constituency - to the chagrin of Dr Ian Paisley and the Unionist establishment.
It was somewhat ironic, therefore, that when he vehemently opposed the nakedly sectarian campaign of the Provisional IRA he was called "Fitt the Brit". He was intimidated out of his home town of Belfast along with his family. He never relented in his condemnation of Provoism for, unlike some members of his former party in the SDLP, he gave no quarter to tribalism.
When he took his seat in the House of Lords he was exoricated by the Provisionals as a British collaborator, yet within a decade this same organisation was preparing the ground to enter both the Dáil and Stormont and they are currently exploring ways to justify taking their seat at Westminster. Slow learners, indeed. - Yours, etc,
SEÁN WHELAN, Ormond Keep, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.