Madam, - It is important that democrats throughout Ireland reflect on the statement by Gerry Adams about Jean McConville.
He states that "the burial of her remains was a great injustice to the family". He does not condemn the kidnapping of a mother of ten. He does not condemn her murder by a bullet in the head. He does not apologise for causing the break-up of the McConville family and the trauma they have faced daily for 24 years. No; all Gerry Adams will say is that it was wrong that the dead body was never returned.
At this moment, it is important that Irish democrats show their solidarity with the McConville family and reject the grotesque comments of "P. O'Neill" and the IRA..
Furthermore, democrats everywhere should once again reflect on the futility of the violence of the past thirty years.
2,054 people were killed by republican paramilitaries.
1,020 people were killed by loyalist paramilitaries.
368 people were killed by the security forces.
It is also important to remember that the IRA killed 402 Catholics in the course of the troubles compared with 408 killed by the UDA/UFF and 368 by the British security forces (source: Lost Lives). It is time that everyone associated with the conflict spoke truthfully and honestly about their past actions. Without truth it is difficult to have reconciliation.
Gerry Adams and the IRA should reflect on the comments of Bishop Desmond Tutu who said: "True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness, which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgement that what was done was wrong". - Yours, etc,
Cllr TIM ATTWOOD (SDLP), Andersonstown, Belfast.
Madam, - In the midst of the controversy about whether or not Mrs Jean McConville was an informant, it is important to remember that her murder was, put simply, a thuggish act of cowardice.
Everything after that is so much semantics and obfuscation. - Yours, etc,
NIALL GUBBINS, Belgree Avenue, Tyrrelstown, Dublin 15.