EDWARD DENNISTON,
Madam, - In Ireland are there not two sub-sets of law within the law? There is canon law, written and implemented by the Vatican state and overseen by the Pope and the Hierarchy; and there is Irish Republican Army law and discipline, set down and implemented by those who envision a state-in-waiting, overseen by a president-in-waiting.
In each case, the discipline or practice arising from these sub-laws has caused a myopia. Neither set was written by our legislators and neither is sovereign and the Pontiff's representative and the Supreme Army Commander finally may have to acknowledge this fact, publicly.
The Church of Rome might come to recognise what it actually is: a church of Christian believers for whom the idea of an alternative/other state within a state is historical and redundant. And equally, the Irish Republican Army might come to recognise what it actually is: an army for which the idea of an alternative/other state within a state is also historical and redundant.
Giant steps. A new beginning for our small Republic. - Yours, etc.,
EDWARD DENNISTON, Waterford.