Letter from Ireland: Time to stop the violence

Time to stop the violence:

Sir - A bit of leadership, please. It seems incredible to me that politicians from the so-called nationalist side, North and South, have so little to say about what is going on in the North of Ireland. With the IRA now disarmed, one would have hoped that the unionists would seize the opportunity to play a part in building a new Ireland for all.

Instead, they have seized the opportunity to pipe-bomb and petrol-bomb the homes of their Catholic neighbours, to attack bars, to paint mindless anti-Catholic slogans on churches and to murder a 15-year-old Catholic, Thomas Devlin.

Our politicians would have more credibility if they put as much energy into condemning all violence as they have traditionally put into condemning Republican violence.

Peter Coleman,
Harold's Cross, Dublin 6w

Excellent point about hypocrisy in Irish politics.