Sir, - I was surprised that Brendan O'Leary signed his article on policing (The Irish Times, July 29th) as an academic, given the polemical nature of the piece. It is clearly symptomatic of the wider attitude within Irish nationalism to treat the Patten Report in fundamentalist terms, in which every clause of the report must be adhered to with almost Biblical reverence.
The Patten Report is a good report. Indeed, it holds out a greater vision of an integrated society than the Good Friday Agreement. However, it is a series of recommendations to the British Government based on the terms of reference in the agreement.
The Police Bill does not reflect all of the Patten Report literally, but it adopts the overwhelming majority of recommendations and reflects its spirit. In a democratic society, it is open to parties to advocate changes.
Prof O'Leary and other nationalists seemed to have overlooked the fact that the SDLP has already achieved a significant departure from the Patten Report, in that recruitment quotas can be applied in perpetuity rather than for the ten years that Patten clearly recommended.
The achievement of a genuinely representative police service is of paramount importance. But this dangerous game of brinkmanship and political blackmail being played out is running a serious risk of fatally undermining the prospect of young Catholics applying to the new service. - Yours, etc.,
Stephen Farry, Justice Spokesperson, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, University Street Belfast 7.