Sir, - Opinion on the island of Ireland is divided on the Northern Ireland problem. About 20 per cent of the people of Ireland are committed unionists. About 10 per cent are committed republicans of one kind or another, with perhaps another 30 to 40 per cent holding strong but definitely constitutional Irish nationalist views. A large body of opinion is without firm views, or varies in its approach.
Would it be too much to ask that commentary in the journal of record in Ireland should roughly reflect this state of affairs, though perhaps giving some extra weight to important minorities such as the unionists or the republicans? The views of the British Government really should be left to its capable acolytes in the British press, though the views of the general British public, which are on the whole anti-unionist and are systematically under-reported in Britain, deserve an occasional airing in the interests of a fuller understanding. - Yours, etc.,
Frank Fitzpatrick, Howth Road, Dublin 3.