A Chara, - Friday's events in the peace process showed up some stark contradictions, the first being Peter Mandelson's decision to collapse the political institutions to save David Trimble's skin. The contradiction lies in the fact that the unilateral unionist deadline that Mr Mandelson acted upon was in breach of the agreement and his decision to collapse the process, over an issue outside the agreement, was also in breach of the agreement.
The cornerstone of the agreement was that all people on the island of Ireland are to be treated equally and to have ownership of their own future. This principle was completely undermined by the actions of Mr Mandelson and has sent a clear message to the anti-agreement unionists that the old days of the unionist veto are still with us and the will of the people to determine their own future will be walked on at the drop of a bowler hat.
The second contradiction from Mr Mandelson also relates to arms. While bringing the peace process to the brink of collapse over guns that have been silent for a number of years, Mr Mandelson's government, in 1998, exported stg£70 million worth of arms to the Indonesian government, which has been responsible for up to 300,000 civilian deaths in East Timor.
Annually, Britain exports more than stg£9 billion worth of arms, an enormous chunk of which goes to countries that have appalling records as human rights abusers.
The IRA's weapons are silent and, in the organisation's own words, pose no threat to the peace process. It's a contradiction that Mr Mandelson won't recognise this fact while British weapons are causing misery in many parts of the world. - Yours, etc.,
Mark Joyce, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5.