Madam, - The irony of the current situation in the North would be ludicrous were it not tragic: any analysis of the 30 years of mayhem in the North since 1968 is bound to conclude that the tinder for that bloody conflagration was prepared over the previous 50 years by the grinding down of the indigenous minority into second-class subjects of the realm.
It would therefore have behoved Dr Paisley, who aspires to the political and spiritual leadership of the settler community, if throughout his public life and through the exercise of his undoubted gifts he had sought, in the name of political justice and spiritual righteousness, to bring his own community to a realisation of how far it had strayed from the path of virtue and needed to don the garb of "sackcloth and ashes" and make amends.
It seems to me in this respect that Dr Paisley has, like his community, wandered far from the way.
Before making remarks such as those made in his own constituency on November 27th - that "the IRA need to be humiliated, and they need to wear their sackcloth and ashes, not in a back room but openly" - Dr Paisley should recollect the parable of the motes and the beams. He might also bear in mind what Christopher Hitchens wrote in a remembrance of his friend the late Edward Said, the scholar, advocate and campaigner for justice:
"For Edward, injustice was to be rectified, not rationalised. I think that it was, for him, surpassingly a matter of dignity. People may lose a war or a struggle, or be badly led or poorly advised, but they must not be humiliated, or treated as alien or less than human. It was the downgrading of the Palestinians to the status of a 'problem' (and this insult visited upon them in their own homeland) that aroused his indignation."
As a southern Protestant of 60 years holding no brief for militant republicanism, I never cease to be amazed at the maturity and forbearance of the Sinn Féin leadership in withholding the pointing finger when under pressure from interrogators asking "the hard questions".
Emboldened by Des MacHale's committal to public scrutiny (December 9th) of an idea I had previously communicated only to my wife as a nice conceit, allow me to endorse his suggestion that Dr Paisley be invited as one of the two nominated clergymen to witness the decommissioning of arms, (and not just IRA arms at that).
If the forces involved can seize the hour, if the IRA is serious about peace and the DUP about power-sharing, then the happy coincidence of Dr Paisley being, on the one hand, a clergyman and, on the other, a representative of those requiring cast-iron assurances, provides a timely way out of the present impasse that preserves honour on all sides. - Yours, etc.,
PETER NELSON, Upper Kilmacud Road, Stillorgan, Co Dublin.
Madam, - All other political parties should condemn the PDs for their shameful use of the British-Irish peace process for political gain.
It has been obvious from the outpourings of Mr Michael McDowell that the PDs have been attempting to out-FG Fine Gael party on the Six Counties to the delight of some in the media.
However, the current impasse in not the time for cheap one-upmanship. That Fine Gael has so far held its nerve on this issue is a tribute to the leadership of Enda Kenny, despite Brian Hayes's solo run in the Seanad.
It is time for leadership and not point-scoring. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDA COOKE, The Links, Donabate, Co Dublin.
Madam, - To what ludicrous depths of childish intransigence have grown-up men politicians in the North descended, when the DUP and Sinn Féin/IRA refuse to budge over the detail of a couple of photographs?
After years of bitterness and blood, the prize of a lasting peace is theirs for the grasping, yet each side keeps blaming the other for the collapse of the peace plan.
Surely the nationalist/republican side, long accustomed to the Rev Paisley's foot-in-mouth pronouncements, should accept that he has indeed come a long way from his one-time fulminations, and it now behoves them for the sake of the future of the whole island of Ireland, north and south, to put aside their hyper-sensitivity to "humiliation" remarks, and accede to the demand for photographic evidence as visual and definitive proof of decommissioning.
The two parties may loathe each other's guts, but at this delicate stage in the present impasse, compromise and generosity are called for. Life is really too short to be little. - Yours etc.,
VERA HUGHES, Moate, Co Westmeath.
Madam, - Does anybody seriously suggest that Gerry Adams is ultimately likely to be diverted from the prospect of substantial salaries and perks for his Sinn Féin cohorts if the killers of Garda McCabe are obliged to serve out the few years that remain of their sentences?
On the other hand, if a premature release does take place, and common criminals are seen to subvert the justice system of the State, the confidence of ordinary Irish people in the integrity of this Government will be severely damaged. - Yours, etc.,
MARGARET ROSSITER, Powerstown Road, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
Madam, - Surely, we must remind Mr Paisley that the last time one side of a major conflict demanded "humiliation" of the other side, namely at Versailles, the seeds of the second World War became firmly implanted in Germany.
Why not tell Paisley to forget about his "humiliation" and opt for "humility" and "humanity". He may be surprised to find out how well it works.
And you might also pass on to Mr Paisley that his demand for photographic proof of IRA decommissioning is not only ludicrous but "humilitates" me on behalf of my countryman General John de Chastelain, who has worked so carefully and tirelessly for peace in our Ireland. - Yours, etc.,
EDGAR COWAN, Caherdaniel, Co Kerry, and Toronto, Canada.