Sir, - Tony Moriarty (October 2nd) is right and Peter Fitzpatrick (October 3rd) wrong on the issue of double standards about the participation of republicans in government North and South.
Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour spokespeople have all ruled out coalition with Sinn Fein (though in the case of Fianna Fail one is never sure) on the grounds of article 15(6) of Bunreacht na hEireann - that the state must exercise a monopoly of legitimate force in a democratic society. They have, however, defended the participation of Sinn Fein in the Northern Ireland Executive Committee on the grounds, as Mr Fitzpatrick writes, that the latter is a regional government lacking the security powers associated with a sovereign state.
This is certainly an argument - though it is interesting that it only began to be made when the prospect of Sinn Fein being in government in the Republic became a real one, rather than at the time of the Belfast agreement, and therefore has an air of post hoc rationalisation about it. The same kind of rationalisation suggested that, because the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe were not originally claimed to be acting under the authority of the IRA, and/or were on a "criminal" mission, they should not be subject to the accelerated prisoner release scheme under which many of the killers of the 302 RUC men and women who have died in the Troubles were released. No rationalisation has, though, yet been provided by Government (or Opposition) spokespersons as to why the pressures for implementation "in full" of the radical changes in policing proposed for the North should not be matched, at least, by the equally enthusiastic advocacy of an independent police authority and complaints procedure vis-a-vis the Garda Siochana.
But suppose the current crisis in the North is surmounted. Suppose the Patten report on policing is implemented in full. Well, Patten recommended - and on this point no one has demurred - that policing powers should be devolved to Northern Ireland. Does anyone seriously expect that Bertie Ahern, John Bruton and Ruairi Quinn will then turn around and say to Gerry Adams: "Well, it was OK for Sinn Fein to be in government in the North when it was a glorified county council, but now that security has been transferred, Mr McGuinness and Ms de Brun will have to resign their ministries unless the IRA disbands"?
The reality is much more straightforward and needs no rationalisation. Northern Ireland, as Albert Reynolds once put it, and Mr Moriarty's letter implies, is "up there". And it would be a good rule of thumb for people - including Irish Times Editorial writers - as to ask themselves whether what they advocate for the North would be what they would be prepared to live with in the Republic. This might lead to a greater understanding - such as that eloquently shown by the SDLP councillor Declan O'Loan (The Irish Times, October 3rd) as to why support among non-nationalists for the Belfast agreement is in grave danger of falling below the critical level required for it to be sustained. - Yours, etc.,
Robin Wilson, Myrtlefield Park, Belfast 9.