Sir, - Mr Spring's statement in Derry that a vote for Sinn Fein was a vote for peace and the Taoiseach's statement a month before that a vote for Sinn Fein was a vote for the IRA emphasise the conflicting elements in the views of the Tanaiste and the Taoiseach on Northern Ireland.
Mr Spring has consistently adhered to the belief that Sinn Fein should be involved in the peace programme and that this would best be achieved by an inclusive rather than an exclusive approach. When his party brought down the previous government he must have felt confident that Mr Bruton would implement the Northern Ireland policy of the previous Taoiseach. The current conflict shows that in fact this was not so and points up the extent of the gap between the Taoiseach and the Tanaiste's view on Northern Ireland. It is hardly necessary to stress that the third partner in the present government has an adamantine dislike of Sinn Fein the party which he was once a member of.
Joy was it then in that autumn of 1994 to be alive. The then Taoiseach and Mr Spring had achieved a miraculous ceasefire and enrolled in their cause the president of the most powerful nation in the world. The Tanaiste must now regret that in the matter of Northern Ireland, which has always been high on his agenda, it has clearly not been possible for his Department of Foreign Affairs to continue the extraordinary momentum built up between 1992 and 1994.
- Yours, etc
Fairfield Park,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.