Sir, – The 15th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement has brought a reasonable amount of comment and reporting in your columns. The views have mostly been given by those well known to be satisfied with the status-quo of the union of Northern Ireland with Great Britain, eg Duncan Morrow and Paul Bew. The weaknesses they refer to are therefore articulated in the context of that union.
Nobody really took a step back and asked why there are still serious failings after 90 years which included eras of domination, the “Troubles”, peace process, and a legislative assembly that has delivered little legislation.
Is it not because the very founding premise of the North was seriously flawed creating a small unsustainable political and economic unit with two main polarised aspirations that, even in “peace time”, do not have a shared or deeply held ambition for the place?
In anticipation of typical criticism of looking backwards I would say the architecture of Northern Ireland was obviously shaped by partition; if the building is still problematical after 90 years is it not reasonable to question that architecture? – Yours, etc,
Dr BILLY LEONARD,
Author Towards a United
Ireland ,
Cashel Road,
Ringsend,
Co Derry.