Sir, - I was intrigued by Gerry Adams's recommendation to unionists that they would somehow be better off as 20 per cent of a united Ireland instead of 2 per cent of the United Kingdom.
One reason why unionists don't wish to become one fifth of a united Ireland is because back in 1921 when Ireland was partitioned, Protestants in the then Irish Free State numbered some 10 per cent of the population. Now, Protestants account for a measly 2 per cent, due in no small part to ethnic cleansing by the IRA during the Irish Civil War.
Besides, it defies logic for unionists to abandon their majority status in Northern Ireland for minority status and an uncertain future in a united Ireland.
I wonder exactly how Mr Adams thinks it "makes sense" for unionists to assent to a united Ireland. The Celtic Tiger, for example, has stopped roaring as inflation in the Irish Republic is now three times that of the UK.
The republican movement has failed to "persuade" the unionist people to accept Irish unity via its use of armed struggle. If Gerry Adams wants to have even the remotest chance of success, he must come up with more imaginative suggestions than his diatribe currently contains and convince the IRA to give up violence for good and decommission immediately. - Yours, etc.
Scott Mackenzie, Belfast, BT9.