Madam, - The reaction of the media, with a few exceptions, to the report of the Independent Monitoring Commission has been astonishing.
The IMC claims that Sinn Féin figures are members of the IRA and accuses republicans of carrying out various illegal activities, yet it has not produced a shred of evidence to back up any of its accusations.
It is one thing to see Sinn Féin's political opponents cynically accepting the IMC report uncritically because of the coming elections. It should be remembered that many of those now making unsubstantiated accusations against Sinn Féin were opposed to the peace process from the very start, while others are using the IMC report to divert attention from the embarrassment to the Government parties stemming from the corruption tribunals in Dublin.
However, for serious newspapers to respond to an unsubstantiated report in such an uncritical way is a sad day for Irish journalism. Surely the sensible position for any serious journalist or newspaper to have taken would be to examine the evidence produced, not hearsay, propaganda or so-called "intelligence" briefings.
Whatever happened to the spirit of investigative journalism? - Yours, etc.,
SEÁN BRENNAN, Cairns Hill, Sligo.
Madam, - In response to Alan McPartland (April 21st), I feel that critical statements about Sinn Féin and the IRA are not "full of cant and humbug", but rather full of facts. His comments reek of appeasement - as when he says that attacks on Sinn Féin and the IRA are for selfish political interest only.
There has been an overriding fear in recent years that antagonising Sinn Féin or the IRA could result in a re-escalation of their terrorist campaign of murder and mayhem - or "the war", depending on your point of view. As an Irish democrat proud of my country, the Republic of Ireland, a functioning democracy recognised in international law as a sovereign, independent State, I feel it is time that facts about Sinn Féin and the IRA should replace Sinn Féin-speak and hyperbole.
Gerry Adams loves to tell people there wouldn't be a peace process without the IRA; but there wouldn't have been 30 years of terrorism without the IRA. Mr Adams proudly told an audience in Belfast some years ago that the IRA "haven't gone away, you know" - and then he has the audacity to wonder why people still ask what their status is.
This is the same Gerry Adams whose colleagues only belatedly recognised the government of this country after previously (or perhaps still) recognising the IRA Army Council.
To serve in a democracy such as our own it is incumbent on every public servant to recognise the government of the day, to recognise the sole right of the Irish Army to defend this country and the Garda Síochána's sole right to provide law and order. The current Government is not the "Dublin Government" as Sinn Féin members call it; it is the Government of the Republic of Ireland.
When the power-sharing assembly was created in the North it was referred to as "Sunningdale for slow learners"; this applied not only to unionists who had an aversion to power-sharing but also to those who had been fighting a campaign of terror. Judging by the report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, Sinn Féin still requires additional remedial teaching. - Yours, etc.,
CONOR KEELAN, Maynooth, Co Kildare.