Madam, – The recent car bomb attack in Newry, Co Down, carried out by dissident republicans, is a very sad reminder of the small minority of terrorists that still exist and believe they can bomb their way to a united Ireland.
What these ad hoc group of terrorists clearly misunderstand is that they have no political mandate and have no major support within the Catholic community for their campaign of violence.
Mainstream republicanism has clearly accepted democratic politics and the road of peace that John Hume stated was the only way forward to bring a lasting political solution and settlement to the island of Ireland.
Therefore, why are dissident republicans now waging a war of violence which will never achieve a united Ireland? Not content with their criminal activities, dissident republicans are now intent on moving to the dark days of the past.
The murder of two soldiers and constable Stephen Carroll and the murder attempt on Peadar Heffron are acts of total brutality, and do not have the support of right-thinking people.
It is therefore imperative that these senseless minority group of terrorists are removed from society, as they are the past failed politics of the North, and they certainly will never be the future politics of the North. – Yours, etc,