Madam, - I welcome the wave of condemnation against the sectarian abuse directed at Darren Graham, the young GAA player from Co Fermanagh.
I believe everybody on this island needs seriously to reflect on this case and carefully consider what we can all do individually and collectively to tackle sectarianism.
Seamus Heaney wrote in the Irish Newsin February 2000 that "there is a cynical definition of peace which says it is merely the suspension of war. One of the paradoxical blessings of the past two-and-a-half decades of Northern Ireland's history has been an emergent vision of peace as a creative condition in which cultural, political and doctrinal differences can be actively confessed and intelligently contested".
The Good Friday Agreement has given us the road-map to make this creative condition a reality. It has given us the opportunity to build a future based on respect for diversity and for political difference,where there is respect for everyone's aspirations and belief.
The tough part is actually creating a society where these "differences can be actively confessed and intelligently contested". We need to challenge our own thinking and try to banish the sectarian demons within us, whether they are conscious or subconscious.
We should be all outraged that the number of peace walls in the North has grown from 18 in the early 1990s to 40 today. We must create the conditions which will see us tear down these 13 miles of division.
We need to create the conditions where a young Protestant can contest a GAA match without fear or prejudice and a young Catholic can proudly wear a Northern Ireland soccer jersey. This is the great challenge of our time. - Yours, etc,
Cllr TIM ATTWOOD (SDLP, Upper Falls), Ormeau Road, Belfast.