Sir, - Gerry Adams has been quoted as stating, "Let's not fritter it away or reduce it" when referring to the IRA decision to start disposing of its arsenals of weapons ("Leaders unite to welcome arms move", The Irish Times, October 24th). However, it has seemed to many people that since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the IRA has frittered away the peace. Its delays and intransigence in decommissioning arms caused the Northern Ireland Assembly to be suspended on two occasions. The vacuum of a suspended assembly has given us the ugly sectarian scenes outside Holy Cross Primary School and increased paramilitary activity. It may not still be too late to restore democracy in Northern Ireland, but it will be a close-run thing.
If the IRA is really serious about ending the armed struggle, it should now publicly disband and close shop. Its ideas about solving the Irish problem by violence are as outdated as the Flat Earth Society. - Yours, etc.,
Bernard O'Grady, Santana, Sπo Paulo, Brazil.