Madam, - Your report of February 10th on the reported decision of the White House not to invite the North's parties to this year's St Patrick's Day celebrations misrepresents the SDLP's position.
The article states that the SDLP, UUP and DUP have complained that they are likely to be "punished" by being excluded from the White House because of the £26.5 million robbery of the Northern Bank.
That may be true of other parties - it is not true of the SDLP. As I made clear in my public comments, the SDLP understands the reported decision by the White House not to invite the Northern parties. It is a reflection of the poor state of the peace process. The SDLP's anger is not directed in any way at the US administration, which has contributed so much to our peace process. Rather, it is directed at those who have failed the peace process and brought it to its current poor state.
For 30 years the SDLP worked hard to build up international goodwill and sympathy for Ireland in the United States. We generated support for the nationalist case for change. It is a sad fact that all the goodwill that the SDLP built up is now being recklessly squandered. The US administration is clearly annoyed at the IRA's raid on the Northern Bank - and at Sinn Féin's failure to face up to the huge damage done by it. The failure of the talks between the DUP and Sinn Féin has been damaging too.
Those who have failed the peace process need to get themselves in line quickly. - Yours, etc.,
Dr ALASDAIR McDONNELL, Deputy Leader, SDLP, Belfast.