Sir, - The Catholic people in Northern Ireland are intimidated by the IRA guns. They are not silent. On an average of once a week some person is wounded by them in an intimidation assault and that person and others are put out of the country at the point of a gun. This creates an unwillingness to publicly criticise the IRA or their partners in politics. People keep their heads down.
Do the Catholic people feel a need to be defended by the IRA? Now now - and the IRA, to their credit, refuse to carry out sectarian assassinations. The present campaign of pipe bombs by the Loyalist extremists, following on Omagh, Mrs Nelson and other tragedies, increases the desire to see all explosives, semtex and guns removed immediately.
The biggest need is for an unarmed police force operating without emergency laws and unsupervised interrogation centres, with steadily increasing numbers of Catholics joining it and good-bye to all paramilitary groups! - Yours, etc., Rt Rev Monsignor Denis Faul PP,
Parish of Termonmaguirc, Carrickmore, Omagh, Co Tyrone.