Sir, – As a former news editor on Shannonside Radio, I had occasion to have interviewed the late Albert Reynolds literally hundreds of times over the years and he was a decent man. Whether the interview was about a pot-holed road in the Ballymahon area, the world financial crisis, or the Northern Ireland peace process, he never once turned us down. He was always a perfect gentleman.
Other people can argue about his legacy, his achievements, his mistakes, and his place in Irish political history, but to us he was the man from Rooskey who happened to become the leader of Fianna Fáil and taoiseach and who never forgot where he came from. May he rest in peace. – Yours, etc,
SEAMUS DUKE,
Antogher Road,
Roscommon.
Sir, – Some words of Jesus come to mind: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.” May Albert Reynolds rest in peace. – Yours, etc,
PATRICIA O’RIORDAN,
Stamer Street,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – In 2008 Cork conferred the freedom of the city on the late taoiseach Albert Reynolds. This was an honour richly deserved and a somewhat belated acknowledgement of Mr Reynolds’s brave and significant role in the Northern Ireland peace process, a role much criticised at the time and largely ignored today.
Mr Reynolds faced down those who opposed his decision to speak to all protagonists in the conflict, and as a result of this decision paved the way for the peace process we enjoy today. The joint Downing Street declaration issued in 1993 by Mr Reynolds and the then British prime minister John Major, which was instrumental in securing the IRA ceasefire and the subsequent Belfast Agreement, was a tribute to Albert Reynolds’s unshakeable belief in totally inclusive all-party talks.
I believe that Mr Reynolds, jointly with John Hume and David Trimble, should have been a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. The decision to exclude Mr Reynolds was regrettable. Mr Reynolds’s significant, but undervalued, achievements as taoiseach will ensure his place in history long after some other holders of that office have been forgotten. – Yours, etc,
TOM COOPER,
Templeville Road,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.