Madam, - Michael Howard, the leader of the British Tory party, visited Belfast on Monday and in the course of his day addressed the "business leaders" of Northern Ireland.
He chose to give reassurance to the assembled elite, stating that if the Tories are elected to govern there would be "no move to joint authority with the Republic by stealth".
While we may dismiss these remarks as the view of a "little Englander" who simply has failed to see that the vast majority of the people living in Ireland have moved on, it does give rise for concern that we have a senior British politician that has failed to see that given the current demography of the place, the "business leaders" appear to be "British unionists" to a man and woman. A damning indictment of "British Rule" if one was needed and simply promising more of the same is particularly depressing. - Yours, etc.,
JIM O'SULLIVAN, Rathedmond, Sligo.