A chara, - Suzanne Murray(September 19th) says I am "out of line" in defending the parents of Ardoyne, whom she implies are not "normal-thinking parents". In a sarcastic comment, she says I am "too far removed from parenthood to understand how a normal-thinking parent puts his children before his principles or his politics".
The parents of Ardoyne whom I know are good parents who have been forced by the circumstances in which they live to stand up to the loyalist bullies who would stop their children from getting to school. From the comfort of her home in Blackrock, Suzanne Murray sits in judgment on the parents living in Ardoyne and adopt a morally superior attitude. She condemns the Catholic parents as if they were the guilty party.
Clearly she does not understand the very difficult situation in which the parents find themselves, nor does she show any sympathy for their plight. She does not respect these parents' courageous decision to stand up for their rights and those of future generations, rather than dance to the tune of the bully.
Of course this is traumatic for the children but these children have had to live in fear from the day they were born. The families in this part of Belfast live in constant fear of loyalist pipe-bomb attacks. These good parents have shown the world, in a way that nothing else could, the kind of sectarian abuse they have had to endure all through the years. They have announced that neither they nor their children are going to be treated as second-class citizens.
Suzanne Murray has only shown she knows nothing about the reality of life for parents and children in Ardoyne. Worse still, she has made a judgment on the motives of these good parents. - Is mise,
Father Joe McVeigh, An Garast·n, Co Fermanagh.