Sir, - Robert Ballagh (Opinion, October 5th) appears to be trying to convince himself as well as others that the legacy of the 1981 hunter strike (the peace process) is something we should all be grateful for. He must be joking!
Mr Ballagh castigates what he terms "establishment Ireland" for its marked lack of enthusiasm towards the hunger strike and its anniversary 20 years on. It doesn't seem to occur to him that it's not just establishment Ireland that stays away from his black-flag roadshow but hundreds of thousands of ordinary people as well, because they have no wish to be associated in any way with an organisation that committed unspeakable acts of mass murder against innocent civilians in Britain and Ireland during a vicious sectarian campaign spanning 30 years, the real legacy of which we see almost nightly on our television screens.
Who does Mr Ballagh think is to blame when he sees working-class people from both communities in Northern Ireland stoning children going to school, burning each other's homes and churches, torching community halls and driving senior citizens from their abodes? Some legacy. - Yours, etc.,
Eddie Naughton, Weaver's Street, The Coombe, Dublin 8.
