Sir, The refusal of the Coalition Government to talk to Gerry Adams is profoundly mistaken. It is contrary to the advice of John Hume and Senator Mitchel, both of whom have said that the only way forward to peace was not to shut doors but to include everyone in dialogue. It is also contrary to the lessons of South Africa and Palestine, where De Clerk/Mandela and Rabin Arafat persevered with negotiations despite far worse out breaks of violence during their peace process. On a purely pragmatic level, the exclusion of Adams will reduce his influence and so make a restoration of the ceasefire more unlikely.
Mr Bruton's hasty action has also given Mr Major the excuse to exclude Sinn Fein and further delay peace talks. Many times over the past few days I have heard that if Albert Reynolds was still Taoiseach, things would never have been allowed to drift so far. It wasn't just that the peace process was being stalled. It had gone into reverse in the past few months.
Britain had reneged on the Downing Street Declaration, which had promised inclusive peace talks within three months it had taken the Framework Document off the agenda it had worsened conditions for prisoners and, most worryingly, it was encouraging the unionist leadership to freeze out even the most minimal Dublin involvement in negotiations. That is what the proposal for an internal election which would amount to nothing more than a divisive sectarian head count with a preordained outcome was (is?) all about.
Mr Bruton's failure to come out firmly against such dangerous (as it proved) British game playing allowed them to try to sow dissension with their divide and conquer tactics. His reversion to the failed policy of exclusion will only compound this error and set back further the achievement of a just and lasting peace settlement. Yours etc., Willow Park Road, Dublin 11.