Sir, - Over the past week, you have published several letters strongly criticising John Bruton for being soft on both London and the unionists. In particular Sean Kane, the Director of the American Irish Political Education Committee, severely takes John Bruton to task for not following an extreme nationalist agenda. Mr Kane's organisation claims to educate Irish Catholic Americans about the political affairs of this island, but what he seems to be doing in reality is reenforcing beliefs and prejudices they already hold, and which most of us do not hold any longer, if we ever did, namely that the unionists must be forced into a 32 county Ireland.
Some people have highly selective memories. There never was a nationalist consensus. There is on the one hand a moderate mandated nationalist body that recently signed up for a solution to the problem in Northern Ireland based on the principle of gaining the consent of the majority of people living there (the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation). There is another minority body which was not prepared to sign up for the principle of consent, namely Sinn Fein/IRA. Their agenda is quite different. A republican spokesman, Mr Keegan, has just clarified this agenda by stating that the only sort of decommissioning he was interested in was the decommissioning of British sovereignty in Northern Ireland.
Let us not forget that it was the IRA who broke the ceasefire, not John Bruton, and the people on this island were outraged when this happened. They took to the streets in their thousands to protest. And even today, the ceasefire has still not been re instated, nor is there any sign of this happening.
John Bruton has worked tirelessly for peace in extremely difficult circumstances and it is precisely because he has gone out - of his way to talk to the unionists in Northern Ireland that the peace process has not broken down irrevocably. If the loyalists had called off their ceasefire, there would be little or no hope for any of us. John Bruton is a man of stature and substance who has gained the trust of people on this island who see no future in Brit and unionist bashing. Bertie Ahern, Sean Kane and others would do us all a favour by supporting his approach and by listening to what the people of Ireland want, namely peace and prosperity. We are prepared to compromise to achieve this, as we owe the future to our children, and John Bruton knows this and puts into practise what he believes. He is to be admired and supported for working for moderates on all sides, for to them the future belongs. - Yours, etc.,
Saint Aidan's Terrace,
Bray,
Co. Wicklow.