Sir, - The appalling scenes in Ardoyne reported in The Irish Times over the past few days are testament to the fact that, however much progress is made on the political front, the peace process must be seen to work on the ground to have any lasting effect on attitudes.
It is no longer sufficient for governments and political parties to react to incidents such as like those in Ardoyne as simply an issue of crisis management. Neither does the understandable though shortsighted description of perpetrators of such ugly scenes as "scum" and "thugs" seem likely to reduce alienation (however merited the epithet appears).
The peace process needs to be planned, sustained and resourced on the ground with, among others, the community workers and educators on both sides in Ardoyne and elsewhere. The work undertaken by these groups may not be as glamorous or as dramatic as that of "last minute" political talks on issues such as decommissioning and policing, but it is every bit as important if there is to be any chance that children will not exposed to such vitriolic abuse as we have witnessed recently.- Yours, etc.,
Tony Kennedy, Chief Executive, Co-operation Ireland, Dublin 2.