Sir, - It has been a year of living hopefully. The peace accord, agreed to on Good Friday, April 10th, 1998, offers all the people of Ireland and Britain the opportunity to free themselves from a generation of remorseless, sectarian warfare. That all violence and intolerance did not end last spring is not surprising; that it continues today is all the more tragic. If nothing else was learned from the arduous negotiating sessions which culminated in the accord, we were made aware of the fact that the North's troubled communities achieved more through bitter communication than they ever did through bitter conflict.
A just society can be created in the North through policies which assist the common aspirations of all its inhabitants - to obtain the education and training needed to secure a fulfilling job, to obtain a good home, and to begin a family life that will offer even greater possibilities to their children.
To those who still adhere to the fallacy of violence - that one more bomb blast, one more gunshot will somehow right all wrongs; to those who still view the North's tragedy as a political game requiring bluff and evasion rather than as a moral dilemma needing compromise and reconciliation, permit me to re-phrase a famous saying: Ask not how you can avenge the past. Ask how you can amend the present to achieve a better future. - Yours, etc., Dan Donovan,
Shandon Street, Dungarvan, Co Waterford.