Sir, - Steven King writes (February 5th): "The IRA succeeded in bringing down the Stormont government in 1972."
I'm too young to remember the events of 1972 directly, but according to J.J. Lee, William Craig formed Vanguard on February 12th, 1972, two weeks after Bloody Sunday. Brian Faulkner, "moving to guard his right flank from Craig", demanded from London authority to fully rearm the RUC and re-establish the B specials. When the prime minister, Edward Heath, insisted that Whitehall would control security, law and order, justice, and appointments to the bench, Faulkner and his cabinet refused to accept these conditions, and Heath prorogued Stormont (Ireland 1912-1985, Politics and Society).
King further writes that "the unionists have demonstrated their change of heart and decided that unionism's best interests are served by inclusive government." He doesn't explain how this squares with the Unionist collapsing of this government. Whatever about the merits of decommissioning, I'm sure I'm not the only one who wonders about the Unionists' commitment to a government that they prevented coming into existence for almost a year-and-a-half, and which they are unilaterally collapsing after six weeks. As I'm sure Mr King would agree, actions speak louder than words. - Yours, etc.,
Aengus Lawlor, Levittown, Pennsylvania, USA.