Sir, - Unfortunately Kevin Myers is correct, I think, in saying that violence works - correct and courageous (An Irishman's Diary, October 25). But it is only in the short term that it can be relied upon to be effective; it is with a view to the longer term that the peace and reconciliation workers plough on in efforts to develop a more safer future.
To give one example: it seemed to the founders of this State that in order to stop the Civil War and allow democracy take hold it was necessary to execute four leading Republican insurgents. True enough, the war ended not long afterwards, but Republican violence troubled this island and its neighbour for ensuing decades. When saying that violence works, it all depends how far ahead you are looking and whether you are taking into account the likely feelings of people yet unborn. - Yours, etc.,
Una O'Higgins O'Malley, Seamount, Blackrock, Co Dublin.