A chara, - Dr Martin Mansergh (Opinion, November 15th) rightly salutes the SDLP for having put the common good before party interests - an action almost unknown in modern Irish politics. This generosity is the abiding legacy of John Hume to present and future generations of Irish people.
All the more remarkable then, that Mr Mansergh's party leader should have excluded the SDLP from the most recent bout of negotiations!
Dr Mansergh might also have recognised the unreasonable burden imposed by the Good Friday Agreement on the inhabitants of this State when their citizenship was unnecessarily compromised by the incompetent negotiating of the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat Government, to which he himself acted as an adviser.
What will be the final cost to the Republic of that legal messing? Foreign exploitation of Irish citizenship, overburdened maternity hospitals, increased burden on scarce public health resources, innumerable court cases, and, finally, the expense of a correcting referendum?
His suggestion that the UUP's election slogan "Simply British", "sounds a bit monocultural", can hardly be intended as serious comment. Presumably, he has heard of the "North Brits" as well as the "West Brits"? As a generic description, which had, initially, been used to encompass Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English nationalities, the "British" multicultural label has now expanded to include even more exotic identities. How much more multicultural can a description be than "Simply British"? - Is mise,
LIAM Ó GÉIBHEANNAIGH, Átha an Ghainimh, Co Átha Cliath.