Madam, - The results of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections are very disappointing. For a number of years now political parties in the South have uncritically accepted FF/PD Government management of the Good Friday Agreement. It is now time to recognise this has been a mistake.
The political process/peace process (even the description is a sham) has comprised fudged decisions and unethical compromises - the lowest form of realpolitik. The result is that in Northern Ireland the last 17th-century sectarian party is in the ascendancy, and its deputy leader has just added to its list of demands the need for "public repentance" on the part of its opponents. We are also looking at the possibility of a fascist party being elected to power, with its cult of the leader, extreme nationalism, Peronist economic policies and its own armed militia. Pure surrealism. - Yours, etc.,
JIM O'LEARY, (Fine Gael candidate, Stillorgan), Sandyford Road, Dublin 14.
Madam, - I fear that with any forthcoming attempts to bring the DUP into the agreement process we will unfortunately enter the realm of Columbian-style negotiation. By this I mean that the DUP could hijack or kidnap the process, demand a ransom for its return, gain that ransom and yet, still kill the process - and then demand a further ransom for the return of the corpse for a decent burial.- Yours, etc.,
ROGER DERHAM, Blake's Hill, Galway.
Madam, - During the 1968 civil rights campaign, Captain Terence O'Neill, Unionist Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, warned his followers about the growth of a "Protestant Sinn Féin". However, their failure to adopt a more inclusive approach led to a 30-year stalemate and a political vacuum. It resulted in violence, tit-for-tat murders and prolonged communal strife verging on civil war.
Then, in 1998, we voted for agreement and inclusive government. For a variety of reasons this did not work. Instead of wholehearted peace and partnership we endured a tortuous peace process that amounted only to an "acceptable level of paramilitary violence", with retention of illegal weapons. We had suspensions of the Assembly. North-South bodies and the Police Board were selectively obstructed and boycotted.
To their everlasting shame, British and Irish prime ministers failed to govern. They cravenly failed to insist on an end to paramilitaries, their weapons and activities. Is it any wonder such feeble cowardice promoted and encouraged the extremists in our divided communities? Instead of combining in mutual support, we became more polarised and ended up electing representatives who represent themselves alone - in essence two Sinn Féin parties, one unionist, the other nationalist, both doing what they do best: making Northern Ireland ungovernable.
If by some miracle the Assembly is reconvened, can anyone see it working? Would it even get past the first important item on the agenda, such as the colours of flags flown at Stormont? So prepare for another long ice-age of direct rule, in which none will escape the calculated chill of punitive, cost-cutting measures. - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN ROONEY, Downpatrick, Co Down.
Madam, - If the DUP is determined to wreck the peace process and renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement, what are the chances of getting Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution back? - Yours, etc.,
MICK MORGAN, Abbotstown Avenue, Finglas, Dublin 11.