Madam, - I concur wholeheartedly with the sentiments of Ulster Unionist Sam Foster (Letters, May 16th) in recognising the supreme personal and political sacrifice David Trimble made in his futile attempts at fostering a less sectarian landscape in Northern Ireland.
Like that other political colossus, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mr Trimble recognised that a new beginning was required for the citizenry of the state that he wished to change for the better.
The fact that the vehicle for that new beginning - the Belfast Agreement - was persistently compromised by both Sinn Féin and the DUP is supremely ironic in that those two parties are now in pole position to lead any new Assembly that may be reinstituted by the constructively ambiguous Ahern/Blair double act.
What Ian Paisley and his supporters will make of the continuing, persistent and insensitive calls of Sinn Féin for a united Ireland over the heads of the unionist community remains to be seen.
- Yours, etc,
EOIN McMAHON,
Northumberland Rd,
Dublin 4.