Sir, - Jim Cusack's report (The Irish Times, July 25th) on the torture, terror and intimidation endured by people in the working-class ghettos of the North highlights the plight of Catholics in particular, who find themselves often without recourse to normal law-enforcement protection, especially at night, because of republican influence in their areas. Paradoxically, it is the same republicans who take advantage of this situation to maim and murder them when they refuse to do their bidding.
This was the fate of Andrew Kearney, yet even this brutal killing does not prompt me to share the headline's optimism that "the killing may end the blind eye to IRA brutality." Indeed a report by Theresa Judge on the same subject (The Irish Times, July 28th) suggests that prominent people are already exonerating the republican leadership from the deeds of the IRA, despite the murder.
It is depressing, for example, to read that Dr Joe Hendron is praising "Gerry Adams and his colleagues" as men of peace. As one who has worked for many years in organisations such as FAIT and other human rights groups, I am forced to state the opposite in the knowledge that these people have never denounced violence or made any attempt to end the terror. Until quite recently, Dr Hendron agreed with me that this was the case, but like many others he has unfortunately decided to ignore reality, and pretend that "renegade elements of the IRA" were responsible.
Who are these armed renegades? Are they the people who recently kneecapped a 79-year-old man in the same area? When a man like Andrew Kearney has a dispute with a "prominent republican" in a drinking club, is it usual for "renegades" to come to his aid? I suggest that the eight masked men who murdered Andrew Kearney are part and parcel of the same organisation that usurped Dr Hendron as MP for West Belfast, and that most informed people are aware of that.
The terror and intimidation in these communities can never be defeated as long as public representatives lack the moral courage to denounce it and thus give a lead to the long-suffering public. Yet it is easy for middle-class people to posture within the security of their comfortable, safe environment and pretend that there is little amiss with a world in which certain men of violence are now peace-loving, compassionate and full of repentance for past evil.
I, for one, would be fully prepared to accept that, if there was no longer death and destruction on our streets, but this is not the case. Dr Hendron, Bertie Ahern, Mo Mowlam and all the rest are aware also that it is not true, and it is dangerous to peddle the myth, as they do, that a certain level of violence will always be around despite the Agreement. We are discussing organised violence against a community by an organisation that is supposedly committed to peace, not spontaneous criminal activity by isolated, insignificant groups. Neither they nor we can have it both ways, and the longer that situation prevails, the more difficult it will be to achieve real peace. - Yours, etc., Sean O Cearnaigh,
Belfast 15.