Sir, – Pól Ó Muirí (Opinion, January 30th) may well be right that I (January 23rd) and others are naive in expressing support for a kick-start to be made in the integration of schools in Northern Ireland.
A “let’s do nothing” attitude has been all too common after the creation of the all-party Executive at Stormont. After all, isn’t the DUP looking after unionists and Sinn Féin doing the same for nationalists?
It is the total inadequacy of such views to sustain the top-down political agreement that has been laid bare in recent times. Fortunately, not all in Northern Ireland share such complacency with a not-so-benign apartheid structure to society.
As it happens, the Alliance Party has published a serious set of proposals designed to make a start to breaking down sectarian structures, including in education. They form the basis for a discussion and debate which so far have been sadly lacking.
I, for one, regard the substantial extra funding required to finance a segregated system as chronically wasteful. – Yours, etc,