Sir, - According to Deaglan de Breadun (October 25th) "the era of a Protestant state for a Protestant people is past".
It may no longer be openly advocated as such, but the fact of the matter is that the Ulster Protestant people continue to assert and defend their right to separate selfdetermination and separate statehood. As Robert McCartney recently stated: "The unionists are not Irish but British and intend to remain so and they also have the right of self-determination whether the British government stays or goes".
As an individual I assert that Irish people in this part of Ireland have an inalienable right to real self-determination in terms of the right to be free to govern themselves as opposed to bogus selfdetermination such as crossborder institutions, joint referendums, the "totality of relationships", or any other artificial political formula with merely the shadow of freedom without the substance. That said, I believe it is time to accept the Ulster Protestant people on their own terms as a distinct and legitimate people in their own right, and time also to amend Article 1 of the Republic's constitution to that effect.
The crux of the Northern Ireland problem is the political relationship between the two peoples living side by side. The present relationship is basically a form of enforced political unity under the supreme authority of British rule. The political relationship poisons ordinary human relationships of all kinds. Cosmetic change is not enough. Equal self-determination as of right is absolutely essential as the basis for a new and freely agreed relationship. As always, the fundamental need is to take the poison out of the atmosphere. - Yours, etc., Malachy Scott,
Belfast 15.