Madam, - In the autumn of 2002 we were treated to the spectacle of a huge detachment of police invading Sinn Féin offices at Stormont. That had all the hallmarks of an event stage-managed for maximum media impact. Republicans were angry and many others were dismayed by what they were witnessing.
Late last year we had the abrupt ending of the "Stormontgate" trial as "it would not be in the public interest" to proceed. Unionists were angered and many others were dismayed. Then we learned that a leading Sinn Féin official at Stormont has been a British spy for some 30 years. Not surprisingly, the people at large want to know precisely what has been going on at the centre of government in Northern Ireland.
It sounds quite rich for the Northern Secretary and Minister of State Noel Ahern to imply that denial of the truth is a means of ensuring that the Peace Process will not be knocked off course. The effect is further compounded when we are told that "the past is the past so let us get on with the future".
Anyone who has studied the history of Ireland must know that the future is the outcome of the past and that, wherever there has been attempt to obscure the truth, this will at some time exacerbate social and political tension whenever it erupts again. For a long time now the New Ireland Group has been emphasising the recurrent nature of the conflict. We believe that obscurantism creates falsehoods which sow seeds of further conflict in generations to come.
Let the truth reign supreme in 2006. Let there be an end to the refusal to disclose it. Let us strive to expose the truth about the killing of Pat Finucane, the killing of Billy Wright and the facts about Stormontgate. Is it too much to expect the British government to restore public confidence in the integrity of its work as the colonial power here in Northern Ireland - or are there indeed "dark forces" behind government which dictate what it may or may not do? - Yours, etc,
JOHN ROBB, Consensor, New Ireland Group, Hopefield Avenue, Portrush, Co Antrim.