Sir, - Mention Dundalk to the average punter. Chances are the name will conjure up an unflattering portrait of a town pockmarked with Real IRA safe houses. Like any stereotype, it does not stand up to serious scrutiny. On August 22nd, 1998, most of Dundalk's population walked through the town centre expressing empathy with the victims of the Omagh bomb a week earlier.
Staff at the Dundalk Institute of Technology have organised "A Time for Peace Week" from March 22nd to 26th. A week-long series of events is planned which we hope will celebrate peace and reconciliation through music, poetry, dialogue, prayer, song, dance and fun. Funds raised will go to the Omagh Memorial Fund. Everyone is welcome.
A ritual of remembrance will take place on March 22nd. The leaders of the four main churches will attend. The Omagh Choir, Dundalk's Setanta Choir and the Cross-Border Orchestra (from schools in Banbridge, Dundalk and Newry) will perform.
Poets Michael Longley and Paul Durcan will read from their work on Tuesday night (23rd). The Institute's staff and students will tread the boards on Wednesday night's Medley of Entertainment (24th).
The forum planned for Thursday will feature leading Northern Ireland politicians (25th). Friday night will see Luka Bloom, La Lugh and the Sands Family performing at the Institute (26th).
We at the Institute of Technology seek to extend the hand of sympathy and friendship, not just to those people so horribly wounded and bereaved at Omagh, but to our fellow-islanders on all sides beyond the Pale. We hope that the Peace Week will enable ordinary people in the Ulster-Leinster borderlands to continue to take ownership of the best chance for long-term peace in the past 30 years.
Tickets are on sale at Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk Arts Office, and the Droichead Arts Centre in Drogheda.
Browse http://www.dkit.ie/ Omagh, or contact Nora Donaghy at (042) 9370452, fax (042) 9370456, for further information. - Yours, etc., Philip McGuinness, "A Time for Peace Week" committee, Dundalk Institute of Technology,
Dundalk, Co Louth.