Sir, - I found Gerry Adams's analysis (Opinion, July 30th) of the collapse of the Northern executive, despite some profound insights, disturbingly biased. It must have come as no surprise to him or his party that the executive would be impaled on the issue of decommissioning. His article rages against the approach of the British government and, predictably, against the machinations of the UUP for, as he says, using decommissioning for excluding republicans from government. On this issue of arms Sinn Fein is psychologically immobilised and will not go gentle into that good night.
Would Mr Adams seriously expect David Trimble to commit hara-kiri in opposition to his own party's stance on the question of arms? If the peace process is to have any meaning, surely the fundamental requirement must be to start getting rid of the weapons of war used so indiscriminately over 30 years. There can be little trust while guns remain - for all one knows - to enforce Sinn Fein's will. One wonders whether the republican slogan, "no guns, no government" is for polemical purposes or whether it's a device to avoid the sorry reality that the long war has been an unmitigated disaster. This is the question Gerry Adams will have to face in the autumn review. - Yours, etc., John F. Fallon, Boyle, Co Roscommon.