Sir, - David Trimble, as First Minister at Stormont, has imposed a ban on Sinn Fein Ministers attending North/South Ministerial Councils until the IRA substantially engages with de Chastelain. Had Ms de Brun and Mr McGuinness been Sinn Fein deputies in the Dail, they would have been ineligible for ministerial positions because of their association with the second army. Is it then, morally right that Dail Ministers should meet Stormont Sinn Fein Ministers while this second army remains in existence?
The great majority in Northern Ireland, unionists and nationalists, want the Good Friday Agreement to work. The logic of adult North-South relationships, with serious co-operation where it benefits both peoples, is obvious and welcomed by most. Representative democracy has been reestablished, this time with cross-community government, an arrangement which is starting to work remarkably well. But the lack of decommissioning has opened a gaping hole in the agreement that has to be fixed, otherwise it will be overwhelmed.
Concerted, quiet action by the British, Irish and American governments is the best route to securing decommissioning by the IRA, thus bringing to an end 150 years of violence in Anglo-Irish relations in favour of constitutional politics, and an institutionalised method, through referendum, of determining the sovereignty of the North. I trust Bertie Ahern and his government will rise to this challenge. - Yours, etc.,
James McKerrow, Press and Publicity Officer, North Down Unionist Association, Co Down.