Sir, - In the stand-off in Ardoyne, spokemen for the residents have said they have no objection to the children walking down the street to their school; it is the adults accompanying them that they object to.
Two questions: 1. Is it reasonable to expect four-year-olds to go to school without an adult accompanying them? 2. After what has happened, would any four-year-old be prepared to walk down the street unescorted?
It is easy to be critical from afar; nevertheless, we could all be dragged unwittingly into any escalation of what it taking place. At the very least we should be entitled to know precisely what the residents are complaining about. They cannot expect much public understanding if the rest of us are kept in the dark.
Is this dreadful situation not capable of resolution by taking up the pleas of those most gentle of people, Bishop Walsh and Father Troy, whose demeanour in the face of so much aggression is an example to us all? A period of calm is vital and then surely a determination to express in measured terms the fears, hopes and frustrations which lie at the bottom of this most deplorable stand-off. - Yours, etc.,
John Robb, Consensor, New Ireland Group, Charlotte Street, Ballymoney, Co Antrim.