Sir, - In the course of a interview on RTE on August 20th, a Sinn FΘin spokesman stated that his party had rejected the British and Irish government proposals on policing in Northern Ireland because what was on offer was "only half a loaf".
In an RTE interview later that day an SDLP spokesman said his party had accepted the proposals and he went on to urge young nationalists to respond positively.
I suppose both reactions were predictable. Here may I refer to an statement made by John Hume in the course of an address entitled "Parliament and Northern Ireland" at the Merriman Summer School on August 23rd, 1983? He said: "The SDLP yardstick in judging proposals was not the ultimate sought by verbal republicans who looked for all or nothing and always ended up with nothing." By the way, the joint government proposals feature an appeal to the GAA to drop Rule 21 - the RUC ban - now. Presumably the GAA will be holding a special congress shortly to respond positively to the appeal.
In that likely event may I suggest that consideration be given to amending Rule 8 and 42? Rule 8 bans GAA involvement as such in constitutional party politics. It has obvious merit and it has been in existence for over a century. Some 20 years ago, in the abrasive political climate of the day, it was amended to allow the GAA as such to support non-party politics.
Rule 42, which narrowly escaped the chop last congress, includes a strand of the infamous foreign games ban in regard to the use of GAA grounds. It too is a legacy of the political culture of the 1980s. - Yours, etc.,
Tom Woulfe, Victoria Road, Dublin 6.