Sir, - John Hume is absolutely right to ask that attention be focused on the damage done by the leaking of documents from the Department of Foreign Affairs. The overwhelming majority of people in the Republic wish to see the present peace process in Northern Ireland succeed. Opinion in Northern Ireland is more divided on this issue.
In particular, unionists, for some quite understandable reasons, tend to be ambivalent or hostile towards the peace process.
It is a matter of the highest importance that their fears be overcome so that a negotiated settlement may be reached on the only feasible basis that exists: power-sharing in Northern Ireland plus an Irish dimension.
Such a compromise does not appeal to everyone, least of all those of a revolutionary or formerly revolutionary disposition. It is consequently not surprising that there are some people in the Republic who are opposed to the peace process for their own particular ideological reasons. Presumably the Department of Foreign Affairs leaker, someone contemptuous both of the State and the democratic process, is among their ranks. The leaking of distorted material on the principal framework document in 1995 in such a maaner as to arouse the unionists' worst fears about the motives and intentions of the two governments just about wrecked the peace process at that time. It is a great pity the leaker was never discovered. It is extremely disturbing that procedures do not seem to have been put in place to prevent the possibility of a repetition.
The ostensible target of the leaker this time is the candidacy of Mary McAleese, but the real aim of misrepresenting her views through memos selected for the purpose would seem much more likely to be that of poisoning relations between North and South. Unfortunately, great damage has already been done.
Is it really too much to ask of politicians in the Republic, especially those in all parties who support the peace process, to unite in dealing with the threat these leaks present to the future of both parts of this island? Which of the candidates becomes President is a trivial matter by comparison. - Yours, etc.,
From Prof Adrian Guelke
Department of Politics, Queen's University, Belfast.