Sir, - I note the welcome meetings which Father Troy of Holy Cross School in Belfast had with the Taoiseach and with President McAleese. (The Irish Times, October 19th). Father Troy is right to voice fears about loss of life after the loyalist pipe bomb attacks.
Short of the sectarian protesters being physically prevented from being anywhere near the children, the only thing that will stop them is being isolated within their own community.
What I want to know is: why has David Trimble not accompanied the children? He has walked out of Government; why not now walk up the Ardoyne Road? Why has Ian Paisley not done the walk? Why not the local DUP MP, Nigel Dodds? Anyone who says that the very idea is ridiculous is merely measuring the degree of sectarianism that exists within unionist politics.
Trimble and Paisley performed a little duet down the Gravaghy Road a few years ago, on behalf of an avowedly sectarian organisation, the Orange Order.
The rights of little Catholic children trying to get to school in the morning without being spat at, screamed at, insulted, physically or psychologically injured or even killed just don't figure in the unionist scheme of things. The throwing of dog faeces and urine at children and their parents doesn't excite the attention of Mr Trimble and his party.
There is probably always something more important going on that prevents the individuals concerned, or their supporters, from physically confronting the racist, fascist and sectarian behaviour being displayed by some of people who vote for them. - Yours, etc.,
Mick Finnegan, Bannow Road, Dublin 7.