Sir, - The messages that keep coming through from the world's and our leaders who command respect are clear. "Be realistic! Demand nothing of unionists; give up all these unrealistic aspirations for a united Ireland!"
with the corollary: "The nationalists of Northern Ireland and their problems are really no concern of ours, it's the unionists and their problems that trouble us."
I am convinced that the vast majority of the men and women of property, along with the majority of the plain people of Ireland, are generally in agreement with this. I would hazard that even if politicians were to utter these beliefs as baldly as I have put them, there would be no great outcry against them.
John Waters's column (May 21st), in which he protests John Bruton's willingness to put forth his variation of these themes, is quite an exception to be found in a mainstream newspaper.
The great puzzle to me is that while people here seem to be getting the messages loud and clear and, in general, accepting them, unionists are incapable of realising how much the people of this country are on their side. They apparently feel, from many of their statements, that Gerry Adams has the British, the Americans, and the southern Irish all in his pocket. Yours, etc.,
Dunlewy Far,
Letterkenny, Co Donegal.