Anglo-Irish relations

Press, 1 October 1979, Page 18

Anglo-Irish relations

Sir, — Your editorial on Ireland (September 27) follows the usual subjective

pattern. The writer, in the tradition of “approved” British media reports, fosters the fallacy that the present conflict in Ireland is caused by the inherent irrationality of the Irish — their illogical religious passions, their proneness to violence. It follows, of course, from this view that only the presence of the more “rational” Briton prevents the situation from degenerating even further. After all these years of bloodshed, does the writer seriously believe that religion is the reason why Irishmen and women are fighting, dying, being tortured and rotting in British concentration camps and prisons? The Pope’s visit will have no effect on Irish claims to nationhood and sovereignty. An objective peace-seeking editorial could profitably examine Britain’s past and present policy, eventual abolition of the infamous artificial border and political and economic rights for the minority British colonists (Protestants). — Yours, etc., D. J. LEAHY. September 29, 1979. Sir, — Your editorial, “Pope John Paul in Ireland,” (September 27) perpetuates the myth that “the basic single division (of the Irish conflict) lies between Roman Catholic and Protestant.” Why then, is there no conflict between Roman Catholics and Protestants in the predominantly Roman Catholic Republic of Ireland? No. The basic division in the conflict in Northern Ireland is British imperialism, which, deliberately, as a policy of cold calculation, exploits the situation there between the Roman Catholic and Protestant communities for its own nefarious purposes to ensure the maintenance of its tyrannical military grip on the six counties of Ireland’s Ulster province. The Pope would be extremely ill-advised by his counsellors if, in touching on the situation in Northern Ireland, he failed to put his finger on the root cause of the conflict — British imperialism. — Yours, etc.,

M. CREEL, September 27, 1979.