Sir, - I have received representations, some of them from the highest quarters, asking me to "explain" the recent behaviour of the "Cruiser" both at Stormont Castle and on John Bowman's "Questions and Answers".
I want to say that my abiding reaction to Bowman's programme was the relative absence of audience reaction to Pat Doherty's efforts at "conflict resolution". To refuse to condemn the murder in cold blood of Garda McCabe is to condone that murder; the "Cruiser's" reaction - one of horror and dismay - does him credit. Also, to watch Seamus Mallen inviting a crypto terrorist to join the democratic process shows that he has yet to learn the lesson learned by the late Gordon Wilson, namely that Sinn Fein/ IRA are merely using the peace process to further their own ends, and that "conflict resolution" is one way of doing this.
As to events in Stormont Castle, I believe Conor Cruise O'Brien to be a Unionist in the sense that to believe in the Union - which is as rational an aspiration as to believe in the Republic - is to defend the Union and that is what the "Cruiser" is currently doing. The "soft" Republicanism of much of the Irish media finds this unacceptable only to the extent that it seems unable to accept the existence of a Unionist majority in Northern Ireland, a majority that Sinn Fein/IRA seeks to subvert.
The "Cruiser" has tirelessly pointed out that the tactic of Sinn Fein/IRA has always been to get the United States to push the British and, in turn, to get the British to push the Unionists to undermine the status of the Union - to that extent the appointment of Senator Mitchell must be understood as something of a procedural Trojan horse. Tragically in this instance it has succeeded in splitting the Unionists and further demonising those members of the UK Unionist Party and the DUP who have sought to alert us to the transparency of this procedural device.
I end by saving that wild horses would not allow me to let my name be used as a stick to beat the "Cruiser". I just hope that none of Garda McCabe's friends, relatives or colleagues happened to see the easy ride given to Pat Doherty by Mallen and Co on John Bowman's programme.
Yours, etc.,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.