A chara, - I am appalled by some of the contributions to your Letters page on the situation in Ardoyne. There seems to be a tendency, echoed recently by your paper's cartoonist, to see parents of the children of Holy Cross primary school as one of two equally guilty sides in the dispute.
The parents have been criticised for "using" their children in some political battle. Having had the opportunity to hear one of those parents address a crowd in Liberty Hall, Dublin last night, I don't believe it's about using their children. It's about not letting anyone treat their children as second-class citizens. Rather than questioning the love and devotion of the parents of the Ardoyne, the blame should be put where it belongs - solely and completely on the UDA and other loyalist elements who quite simply don't want a "Taig" about the place.
One wonders if these same writers would have criticised African-Americans who, with their children, refused to go to the back of the bus during the civil rights campaign of the 1950s and 1960s. - Is mise,
Justin Moran, Leinster Park, Maynooth, Co Kildare.