Madam, - In response to the letter from Rev Dr Gordon Graham concerning the planned Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland (January 31st), I would point out that the Church of Ireland Gazette's leader of January 4th was not opposed to people having whatever rights they need, but was opposed to a Bill of Rights specific to Northern Ireland.
Indeed, last July a Green Paper on a national Bill of Rights appeared at Westminster, thus opening up an important further dimension to the issue.
There is also the further fundamentally constitutional question as to whether a local Bill of Rights is the best way of providing people in Northern Ireland with any further rights that they need, and we commented that ordinary legislation is adequate for that purpose.
Dr Graham suggested a parallel between the issues of decommissioning and a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights, in so far as neither was mandatory in the Belfast Agreement. Yet there is a fundamental difference here in that the holding of illegal arms is, precisely, illegal.
I hope that the discussion of a Bill of Rights will continue. As we indicated in a subsequent leader on the subject (January 18th), every perspective is important, every voice needs to be heard and every person must respect the integrity of perspectives other than their own. - Yours, etc,
(Canon) IAN M. ELLIS, Editor, Church of Ireland Gazette, Lisburn, Co Antrim.