Sir, - The public and political reaction in the Republic to the events of the Garda McCabe trial has been extremely revealing.
Many of us in Northern Ireland are disappointed and indeed very hurt that, while under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement those responsible for the murders of over 2,500 people in Northern Ireland will all be released by July 2000, the same policy, amazingly, does not seem to apply to the Irish Republic.
Those of us who debated against Paisley, McCartney and the "No" campaigners during the Referendum told the public honestly that the Agreement clearly stated that all paramilitary prisoners would be released. This was clearly understood to include loyalist and republican prisoners in Northern Ireland, prisoners in Britain and prisoners in the Republic. We stated clearly that this was a very bitter pill to swallow but that it was a necessary price to pay in order to get the IRA, the UVF and the UFF to end their campaigns of violence.
It has also been rather interesting to witness the surprise about the alleged intimidation in the McCabe trial. In Northern Ireland since the 1994 ceasefires it has been accepted almost as a fact of life that shootings (including the murder of Andrew Kearney in Belfast last year) and beatings by "ceasefire organisations" continue, along with overt intimidation that prevents perpetrators of serious crimes being brought to justice.
Perhaps one good thing that might come out of the events surrounding the McCabe trial is that the Irish Government, which clearly has a huge moral influence with the Republican Movement, now has the authority to tell it once and for all that all acts of violence, intimidation and threats must cease forthwith, both North and South of the Border.
The victims of the Adare atrocity, victims in Northern Ireland, and the people of Ireland as a whole have a right to expect no less. - Yours, etc., Philip McGarry,
President, Alliance Party, Dorchester Park, Belfast 9.