Sir, - I found the article "Lingering residue of Section 31 Mentality" by John Waters (Opinion, September 8th) like a breath of fresh air.
Sadly, since the Omagh tragedy the political and media atmosphere has been polluted by those seeking political advantage as a consequence of the atrocity.
Once again, through biased reportage and commentary, a concerted effort is being made to rewrite history. From the recent persistent calls on the IRA to decommission and to reveal the whereabouts of the bodies of the "disappeared" to the total exclusion of other charges against other parties to the conflict, one could be excused for thinking that republicans were the only perpetrators of violence and that the only real victims were the victims of republican violence. This, of course, is nonsense. In the course of the Northern conflict all sides did terrible things and as we struggle with the maintenance of peace it is crucial that culpability be fairly apportioned. There must be both parity of blame and parity of compassion.
Michael Lapsley, a South African priest who was involved with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is fond of saying that the stories of the victims must be "reverenced, acknowledged and recognised". He calls this process the "healing of memories" and part of that healing process, a very important part, is that there has to be full disclosure. There cannot be reconciliation if there has not been truth. The truth must be told. It must be heard. No matter what and how and who and where. If there is to be reconciliation, if there is to be forgiveness, if there is to be healing, there must be full disclosure. To quote Michael Lapsley again, "the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth must be told. The space is thereby created where the deeper processes of forgiveness, confession, repentance, reparation and reconciliation can take place."
This means that, here in Ireland, just as the families of those killed by the IRA must be told where their loved ones are buried, so too the families of the victims of the loyalist bombings of Dublin and Monaghan in 1974 must be told the truth about alleged British involvement in the deaths of their loved ones and why the Irish Government persists in frustrating their struggle for justice. Also, surely those whose relatives were murdered as a consequence of collusion between the RUC and loyalist sectarian killers, as described in the book The Committee, deserve to know the truth?
The list of terrible deeds perpetrated by all the combatants is almost endless, yet in the interest of lasting peace and reconciliation there can be no more secrets, no forgotten atrocities, no forgotten victims.
We must accept that partial blame and partial compassion will only create the conditions for future conflict and that full disclosure of the truth behind all the violence of the last quarter of a century is the only real foundation for a peaceful future. - Yours, etc., Robert Ballagh,
Dublin 7.