Sir, - It would be churlish and deeply unfair to deride the efforts made by many parties to arrive at the Good Friday accord. Tireless energy and unflagging determination went into its realisation.
I would dearly love to be able to give support to the Constitutional Amendments in the referendum on May 22nd, but there is a fatal flaw in Article 3.1 which proposes the recognition "that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means" (so far so good) "with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island" (my italics). If Northern Ireland were indubitably a democratic entity, I would have no problems with this proposition, but, alas, the case remains to be proven.
For the South to copperfasten constitutionally the unionist veto would, I believe, be deeply mistaken, and, if ratified, as the months unfold and the Assembly is put in place, will be shown to be so. I say this with regret as I recognise that many institutional aspects of Northern Ireland have been shining examples of civic and structural excellence, such as the National Health Service and the education system from which so many of us have benefited. Catholics, I believe, whilst decrying the negatives, have never acknowledged sufficiently the positives in the Northern situation. However, with the best will in the world I cannot see the North evolving into a satisfactory democratic statelet. Its origins will always bedevil its evolution. By the same token, not nearly enough commitment in the South has been given to discovering ways in which a new Ireland, unthreatening and democratic, might be realised.
It is hard for us in Ireland, North and South, to envisage a new Ireland, one that would transcend the sectarian dichotomies of nationalist and unionist, Catholic and Protestant, but one we must surely strive to imagine and work for.
I believe it is possible to vote no in the coming referendum and be committed to a new vision for the future: A new Ireland in a new Europe where economic, social, political and religious liberties would be afforded to all, and our current conflict would be confined to the anachronistic dustbin of past history. - Yours, etc., Dr Ciaran Cosgrove,
Glenageary, Co. Dublin.