Ireland and its enemies

Madam, - J.A. Barnwell (June 1st) claims that "Ireland has no enemies"

Madam, - J.A. Barnwell (June 1st) claims that "Ireland has no enemies". He seems to forget that the Republic and its citizens do indeed have an enemy in the Irish Republican Army in all its guises. - Yours, etc,

JAMES P. BRENNAN, Hollybrook Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3.

Madam, - J.A. Barnwell says that "Ireland has no enemies".

I suppose this is correct enough, and it is also why Bertie Ahern, during the Ken Bigley affair, gave a press conference surrounded by Mr Bigley's relatives and stated in public that "Ireland has no quarrel with these people".

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This means, I take it, that Ireland has "no quarrel" with fundamentalist fanatics who kidnap people off the street, keep them in anguished captivity for a few weeks, and then behead them on video.

Is this really something to be proud of? - Yours, etc,

JONATHAN BAUM, Dargle Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin.