Sir, - As a Northern Protestant who has always had a strong sense of both Britishness and Irishness, I very much welcome the proposed changes to Articles 2 and 3 of the Republic's Constitution. The change of emphasis from territory to people and the enshrinement of the principle of consent will make the new Constitution entirely non-threatening. One recognises a carefully balanced statement of the realities and no longer a crude, simplistic and bombastic claim.
I would go further, though: If the Constitution is so altered I will feel, for the first time, that it actually applies to me. I value my British citizenship and the wider connections of the Union and wish to keep them, but I also know that I am culturally and temperamentally Irish; indeed I regard "Irishness" as my birthright just as much as any Northern nationalist. I believe that the proposed amendments will create a Constitution which welcomes someone like me as a member of the Irish nation in "all the diversity" of its "identities and traditions". - Yours, etc.,
Robin Glendinning
Island Reagh, Comber, Co Down.