Madam, - Tony Kennedy (January 9th) does well to defend the President's record on pluralism.
She has broken new ground by using her office to "build bridges" to a minority on this island, thus fulfilling her election promise. She recognises there are both British and British-Irish communities on this island, something which our Government often struggles to come to accept fully.
Most importantly, every year she attends the Remembrance Day service in St Patrick's cathedral to honour the Irish dead, of whatever religion, who fell fighting in the British forces in two world wars. Unfortunately, no head of any political party, nor Dublin's Lord Mayor, makes such an inclusive and peaceful gesture on that day. She has also paid tribute to these men and women at the Irish memorial in Messines.
President McAleese recognises the "complex historical ambiguities of identity-formation on this island" and that we are "an integral component of the multinational and multi-regional history of the North Atlantic group", in the words of the historian Stephen Howe in Ireland and Empire.
Furthermore, we believe no previous Irish President has so graciously bestowed the weight of the office in such a conciliatory way in the interests of peace. She does what all presidents should aim to do: lead by example.
For this courage alone, surely she deserves praise and credit from the people on this island. - Yours, etc.,
ROBIN BURY,
IAN BEAMISH,
DEREK SIMPSON,
The Reform Movement,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.