JIM O'SULLIVAN,
Madam, - Your recent coverage of the latest census figures in the North left me with a feeling close to despair. Many of those in the eye of the storm appear not to understand that it is the Border that feeds the dreadful state of affairs and its removal is the first step required if the people of this island are to have their lives returned to normality. And it was particularly sad to read the words of academics enthusiastically welcoming the notion that the census returns might mean that partition and the status quo are guaranteed well into the future.
It is nothing short of horrific that we are to continue to live in a world devoid of any vision other then the status quo that has so miserably failed. Where young people are exposed to ongoing brutality and death. Where unelected warlords terrorise and exploit all those within their domains. Where self-development is blighted.
It is profoundly sad that there are so many people unable to look beyond this status quo, who shudder at the thought of unionists being incarcerated in a unified Ireland while on the other hand have no difficulty with a state of affairs that sees Irish people similarly incarcerated in a partitioned Ireland. These people cannot see that in fact the majority of the unionist people are presently living in a state of oppression, unable to break the shackles of bigotry and sectarianism that were created to foster difference and division so as to protect the wealth and privilege of the few.
That the unionist people cannot find a leader who understands and is willing to explore the implications of the decision taken by the Irish people that this island is a "shared place" is almost unbelievable.
The status quo with political unionism in first place, if only by a short head, is the preferred option of myopic dinosaurs and the guardians of difference and division. It only guarantees more years of the present oppressive state, more slaughtered young people, more exploitation, more lives doomed to sterility and the subservience. - Yours, etc.,
JIM O'SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.