Sir, – Let us hope that the significance of what has happened recently in Northern Ireland is not lost on its population. After three years of having failed to agree on anything of any significance, the political parties have been presented with the answers to major issues facing the community. They have been told to go into Stormont and implement the solutions provided for them. They have agreed to do so.
No leadership from the parties; no solutions brought forward by the parties; no reaching out from one side to accommodate the other; no signs of progress or hope to us as an electorate. Instead, they have been told to get back to work and implement solutions that have been handed to them.
They are doing so after acceptance speeches laced with a lack of respect for the opposing parties with whom they are expected to work.
Surely this is the time to acknowledge that we in Northern Ireland are a long way from having mature representation that can devise and deliver the way forward at this difficult time? Why await the next fracture in these contrived partnerships? Would now not be the right time to agree that those who solved these problems without the aid of NI politicians should be charged with providing for us the governance that is needed on an ongoing basis? A five-year period free of the childish finger-pointing we now witness on a daily basis could be followed by an election that should deliver a new generation of politicians better able to represent the needs of the population. – Yours, etc,
P FITZSIMMONS,
Down.
Sir, – Could we all spare a thought for the trauma through which the members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are going? Returning to work, following a three-year paid holiday, must be challenging in the extreme. – Yours, etc,
JOHN MacKENNA,
Royal Oak,
Co Carlow.
Sir, – I congratulate politicians on all sides and the civil servants on a job well done. That there were remarkably few leaks along the way could only have helped things. There is a lesson there for all difficult talks. – Yours, etc,
ALAN GALLAGHER,
Donegal.