Sir, I have gone on record in, stating that democracy and its usual application cannot exist in, a fundamentally artificial unit, and in that context Northern Ireland has failed as a political entity. While the situation moves abysmally nearer the brink, we have the further spectacle of the British Government's bankrupt and inept policy exposed by Sir Patrick Mayhew, who had the temerity to accuse, John Bruton of double standards.
This from a former Attorney General who in 1988 stated that it would not be in the public interest to press for prosecutions for those who conspired to pervert the course of justice in the Sampson Stalker report. In Northern Ireland, where the Westminster writ is also supposed to run, we see the effect this has on the nationalist community. It is similar to that of an irresistible force meeting an immovable object.
Either the immovable object moves on this position, or the irresistible search for a solution becomes submerged in the rising tide of despair, and it in turn degenerates into terrorism. In this case, the immoveable object consists of those whose self interests, economically and politically, lie in perpetuating a system whose ideologies are rigid and out of date. Powerful, entrenched interests are involved which obliterate reason, ignore justice, confound world opinion and dull any responsible inclination towards reconciliation. Yours, etc. Willington Green, Templeogue, Dublin 6 W.