Sir, – David Adams regrets that reconciliation was not pursued following the Troubles in Northern Ireland and “It is clear, as a people, we are as divided as ever” (“I am ashamed of my paramilitary past. I won’t be writing about it again” , Opinion & Analysis, June 10th). His argument that “character –not skin-colour, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, country of origin or any other difference – must be our sole criteria for measuring a person” should resonate with all civilised people.
The segregated system of education that remains relatively unchanged in Northern Ireland since the signing of the Belfast Agreement continues to limit the mixing of Protestant and Catholic children. This perpetuates the divide between Protestant and Catholic communities along with the unionist and nationalist positions that are held and gets in the way of removing the peace walls and the process of reconciliation.
Almost a century ago Patrick Lindsay, a former government minister and former master of the High Court, worked as a teacher in a Cavan school in the 1930s and stated in his memoirs (1992), “I understand less and less the conditions of the present day, especially the insistence from so many quarters, of religious and sexual segregation. I think if there was more freedom for boys and girls to mix and for different religions to intermingle, we would have a better country”.
Words of wisdom lost through the decades. – Yours, etc,
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KEVIN McLOUGHLIN,
Ballina,
Co Mayo.