Madam, - I write to express my total disgust at the riots in Dublin last Saturday and my rejection of those behind them. Their motives, apparently - judging from some who were interviewed - were to oppose Protestants, to protect the values of their country and because they were republicans.
The fact is that they could not have behaved in a less republican manner. Where is their tolerance of difference? Their respect for the right of free speech? Where is their respect for the principles of the 1916 Proclamation, for everything true modern Irish republicanism is built on?
What we saw was not republican. Nor was it the way those who want a united Ireland should behave. It was as futile as the 30 years of bloodshed which preceded it. It could not have been more partitionist, more sectarian, more out of touch with modern Ireland.
Ireland has changed radically in the past 20 years. We are increasingly shedding ourselves of the baggage of the past. My view is that the rioters were attacking that change as much as they were opposing a small demonstration by Northern Unionists. They are afraid of a new Ireland. The rest of us, north and south, should resolve to build it. - Yours, etc,
CONALL McDEVITT, Malone Park Lane, Belfast 9.
Madam, - "There are more republicans in Ireland today than at any time in our history," said Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Féin, at his party's recent ardfheis. He added: "There now exists time and opportunity for all political parties which espouse Irish unity, and democrats generally, to build a broad movement to debate and plan the type of Ireland we want" (The Irish Times, February ).
Well, Saturday's appalling events in Dublin must surely put that debate on a back-burner. For the violence and thuggery - led and orchestrated by so-called republicans - has given us a timely reminder of the "type of Ireland" that many "republicans" still envisage - an Ireland of "great hatred and little room"; a narrow, intolerant, sectarian and racist Ireland, where violence rules and hypocrisy thrives, where selective amnesia and myths take the place of real historical understanding, where lip-service and clap-trap take the place of political vision and where the rights of minorities are literally to be trampled on.
How on earth could these people call themselves republicans? How can they claim allegiance to the Tricolour - a flag which recognises and respects the differing identities of the Orange and Green traditions on the island and symbolises the aspiration to peaceful co-existence between them? Thankfully no one was killed on Saturday, but the events surrounding the abandoned march - not only the violence threatened and carried out on the day but also the trivialised and uninformed media debate beforehand, the misunderstanding of the original reasoning behind the march, and the whole ongoing stalemate in the peace process - should surely make it clear that what is needed now is not a broad movement for a debate on Irish unity (however noble such an aspiration may be).
What is urgently needed is:
1. A re-assertion of, and re-commitment to, the fundamental values of this Republic - values, rights and freedoms developed and won over a long period and now enshrined in the Constitution.
2. A re-commitment to the long-term task that lies before this generation of Irish people: the task of healing the wounds of conflict and division, addressing the legacies of the past, building respect and understanding, removing fear and misperceptions and empowering young people to play their part in bringing about a truly peaceful and just society throughout the island. - Yours, etc,
JULITTA CLANCY, Meath Peace Group, Parsonstown, Co Meath.
Madam, - The President and the Taoiseach, together with a number of politicians and commentators, have seen fit, rightly, to deplore the "republican" rioters in the centre of Dublin. Within the past 10 days, these same people have deplored the recent Muslim rioting and killings in various countries.
However, there is an anomaly in their denunciations. Whereas they qualified their condemnation of the Muslim riots by stating that the Danish cartoons were "offensive", "rude", "provocative", etc, there has been no similar qualification of their condemnations of the Dublin riot. Surely they should also mention the fact that Orangemen came here in the full knowledge that there was a real likelihood of serious trouble, because some people here would be "offended". Do they consider that Orangemen have an absolute right to free expression, but Danish newspaper cartoonists do not? - Yours, etc,
EAMONN GAVIN, Dublin 6w.
Madam, - Condemnation of the Dublin rioters is right-minded and admirable, but seem to have missed the point: the opportunity for organised thuggery should never have been allowed in the first place. How is it possible that the people who authorised the loyalist march believed the event could be carried off peacefully?
The idea of Union Jacks on O'Connell Street represents an unprecedented opportunity for unsavoury elements to rabble-rouse among a historically orphaned urban youth. Issues of free speech aside, the loyalist march was an unwise event and a provocative affront to the majority of people in the Republic.
That some people allowed this bait to lure them into violence is regrettable and disgraceful, but hardly surprising. - Yours, etc,
VAL NOLAN, Ardagh, Co Limerick.
Madam, - If I were Ian Paisley I would send some nice boxes of chocolates and thank-you cards to last Saturday's moronic rioters and looters. The whole farce gives right-wing unionism vindication for its self-portrayal as the "victim" throughout the peace process. Jeffrey Donaldson, no doubt with his tongue firmly in his cheek, even described the violence as an affront to unionists' "civil rights".
These thugs have handed the DUP a handy propaganda coup. - Is mise,
STEWART KELLY, Meath Place, Dublin 8.
Madam, - No doubt we will now see a more fastidious approach among our major political parties to the selection of potential coalition partners after the general election. - Yours, etc,
HUGO BRADY BROWN, Stratford on Slaney, Co Wicklow.