Sir, - The majority of the people on this island, North or South, want peace. In Northern Ireland, quite apart from economic necessity, there is the hope that an end to violence means an end to the physical and emotional destruction of families and communities; and in the counties bordering on the North, especially Donegal, which is much more closely linked to Derry, Tyrone and Fermanagh than to any part of the Republic, the economic and social costs have been immense. Apart from travel difficulties in visiting family and friends, there is also the conspicuous absence of the Celtic Tiger. So perhaps the removal of Articles 2 and 3 from the Constitution seems a small price to pay for future peace and prosperity and, looking back, it would appear that those same articles put no food on anyone's table nor provided health, welfare and education.
But wait a moment! There is one thing to be said for national territory: it is both measurable and visible. The concept of "Irishness" carries none of the same strict legal definition. In dealing with the creation of new law we should never forget the present existence of Murphy's Law, which states that if something can go wrong it will eventually go wrong; so before we commit ourselves to any new constitutional wording I would like to submit two possible scenarios to our legal experts.
The first is this. Supposing for good business reasons someone like Bill Gates - or, for that matter, an Arab oil sheikh or a Colombian cartel - decides to buy Sherkin Island, offers each family on the island £1 million pounds to re-settle on the mainland, brings in some selected non-Irish friends and associates, and then submits to the authorities that the new residents owe no loyalty to and have no wish to be a part of the Irish State, so they are entitled to their independence on the basis of "the will of the people" in a clearly defined geographical entity. The proposed changes in our Constitution seem to leave us with a very shaky defence against such a claim.
The second scenario is this. The people of Derry - a city which is mainly on the Donegal side of the River Foyle - who are overwhelmingly nationalist, decide by a large majority to vote themselves into the Republic. Under the new Article 2 it seems we are compelled to admit them, whereas the UK, which remains a clearly defined territory, could well refuse to cede the ground. This is no fanciful exercise. Let anyone who thinks so study the 30-year litigation between The Honourable, the Irish Society in London and the Foyle fishermen over the fishing rights on the river and the lough after the Border Commission had done its work.
Our original Constitution was noted for its clarity of expression - something that subsequent amendments have failed to match. Many years of logical thought went into its presentation. Now we are being offered a fudge, a deliberately vague wording meant to gloss over the fact that the desire for unity has not gone away. Honesty and precision should compel us either to retain the article in its present form or to redefine the territory within 26county limits but specifically retaining the larger ambition. Whether or not such an amendment would satisfy Sinn Fein I do not know. I do not even guess how the voters, North or South, would react.
Possibly a cross-Border body set in place specifically to protect the Northern minority against discrimination might achieve something positive as a substitute for legal claims, but both the document itself and past history show this to be illusory. Over the past 75 years neither Dublin nor London has done anything to defend the minority, though both claimed that the people concerned were their citizens. Only Brussels legislation and the European Court has achieved anything at all. As it is, all that is on offer in the present document is political windowdressing.
Unclear agreements quickly become clear disagreements, which is a recipe for further unrest. Let us insist on clarity of expression, no matter what the cost. Compromise is still needed. Bluff and pretence are not a substitute for give and take. - Yours, etc.,
Walter Hegarty Op
Holy Cross Priory, Tralee, Co Kerry.