Madam, – We can only hope that the good influence of St Patrick will succeed in driving out the remaining handful of snakes in the grass of Northern Ireland. – Is mise,
PETER ROYCROFT,
St Brendan’s Drive,
Dublin 5.
Madam, – The recent murders of two soldiers and a police officer have rocked the people of Ireland to the core. These despicable acts were carried out by people claiming to be Irish republicans. Republicanism is about acting in the interests of the people of Ireland, but these people are acting against the people of Ireland, who voted in overwhelming numbers for the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. They need to be caught and locked up.
The strong condemnation from Martin McGuinness and other Sinn Féin leaders is very welcome and must be commended. They have said the murders were “wrong and counter productive”. They are right. The murders of thousands of people, including soldiers and policeman, before the second IRA ceasefire in 1996 were also wrong and counter-productive.
Until Sinn Féin admits that its 25-year campaign of violence was wrong and counter-productive it will have no credibility in telling dissident organisations that they are wrong. Like these new groups, the Provisional IRA acted without a mandate and against the wishes of the Irish people. The IRA eventually realised that its campaign was counter-productive but it has yet to admit that it was wrong.
It is our duty as public representatives to persuade young people who are drawn to dissident groups that the road of violence leads only to misery and disappointment. They need to be convinced that the unification of the country will never be brought about with guns and bombs. In order to do this we need to be honest. How can Sinn Féin seriously convince these young people of the futility of war when they constantly celebrate their own war?
All week we have listened to Sinn Féin representatives talking about how IRA murders were right but dissident murders are wrong. This position is completely untenable.
Young people can see how ridiculous Sinn Fein’s position is. If it is to convince these young people that the dissidents have nothing to offer, Sinn Féins need to admit that the Provisional IRA’s campaign was wrong. – Yours, etc,
Cllr COLUM EASTWOOD (SDLP), Culmore, Derry.
Madam, – One could readily dismiss Joe Lynch’s letter of March 14th and his deluded and anachronistic notion of an “ongoing war against the British occupation of Ireland” if it did not offer a degree of insight into the recent atrocities. In its utter delusion it belongs to a shameful time in Irish history.
While Adams and McGuinness are an imperfect pair, their version of republicanism now represents by far the lesser of two evils on this island. Mr Lynch and the murderers he implicitly supports have done a good job of elevating them to this position. – Yours, etc,
NIALL COOPER,
Carleton Place,
Youghal,
Co Cork.
Madam, – In specific reply to an insinuation in Joe Lynch’s letter, those who murdered the two British soldiers and the PSNI constable do not represent the Irish people.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement was accepted by a majority of Irish people on both sides of the border. This constitutional arrangement represents the Irish people. As for those who oppose the British presence in Ireland, there is nothing to prevent them from continuing to do so politically.
Those who take up arms to oppose the British presence – in that they reject the democratic will of the majority to use exclusively political means to pursue particular goals – are nothing better than fascists. – Yours, etc,
CHRISTIAN MORRIS,
Claremont Road,
Howth,
Dublin 13.