A chara, - Fred Cobain's letter of June 30th illustrates quite clearly what is wrong with current political thinking within the Ulster Unionist Party. Mr Cobain ignores the realities of life in the North and instead attempts to further propagate the myth that the current crisis in the peace process is the fault of republicans.
He persistently claims that republicans have broken their promises. This is a rather ludicrous suggestion when one considers that Sinn Fein has lived up to every commitment it made at the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Fein has played a full part in the Assembly, the two Sinn Fein Ministers are proving very effective, and the party as a whole has fully embraced the very significant challenges posed for republicans by the agreement. Moreover, the IRA has fulfilled all the commitments it made last year regarding decommissioning, whereas the British government has consistently delayed the process of demilitarisation.
The fact is that republicans have embraced and defended the Good Friday Agreement in its totality, while many in the Ulster Unionist Party - even those who claim to be pro-agreement - have continually attempted to undermine and rewrite it. They have remained deafeningly silent on the issue of continuing sectarian attacks against Catholics, stood in the way of attempts to create an acceptable police force, and treated Sinn Fein Ministers as second-class representatives by preventing them from attending North-South ministerial meetings. Now, David Trimble has resigned from a fully functioning executive. While Ian Paisley and his traditional brand of hard-line unionism has failed to bring down the agreement from outside, it now seems that David Trimble and his updated version of the same form of unionism may destroy the agreement from the inside. For Fred Cobain to blame the current crisis on republicans ignores this reality. - Is mise,
Cllr Nicky Kehoe, Dublin Central Sinn Fein, North Strand, Dublin 1.