Sir, – While in attendance at a recent address by Mary Lou McDonald at a civic unionism forum at Queen’s University Belfast, I was struck by the Sinn Féin president’s comments regarding her party’s lack of any unilateral ownership of a “blueprint for a unitary state”.
I wonder if she might go further? In the event of some future dispensation where political unionism tentatively discussed the parameters of a “new Ireland” with the sitting government of the day in the Republic, might Sinn Féin remove themselves from these negotiations due to the emotional and historical baggage that their party carries for that community.
In short, does she put country before party? – Yours, etc,
Dr PAUL BURGESS,
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
School of Applied Social Studies,
University College Cork.