Sir, - Sinn Fein should be at the bargaining table concerning the future of the North. This is all the more evident, if we take into account past Sinn Fein political initiatives. There have been many suggestions that the solution in the North would involve some sort of federal arrangement. In most of these suggestions, Dublin would still have large powers.
The solution suggested by Provisional Sinn Fein in 1972-73 went further. It suggested that power within the Republic itself would be devoluted to the four provinces. The implication of this suggestion is that the highest and most basic sovereignty is at the local level the level that involves people directly. Dublin would have only a subsidiary role.
Another implication is that the role of London in Northern Ireland would also be one of subsidiarity only, and that the sovereignty connection to the Crown would be cut. The divisive triumphalism in the North that is based on allegiance to the Crown would be ended. Justice demands that nobody on the island of Ireland should be forced to have allegiance to the Crown. - Yours, etc..
The Maharees,
Castlegregory,
Co Kerry.