Sir,- "London has repeatedly said that Gibraltar would remain under British rule if proposed changes were to be rejected in a referendum" (The Irish Times, November 21st). Unionists in Northern Ireland should watch this dispute.
There are some 30,000 Gibraltarians. It would be surprising if Spanish rule was accepted in a referendum. I grew up there, and I have often argued that, though the situations there and in Northern Ireland are different, there is a common factor.
The people of Gibraltar have mixed origins; when I lived there, Spanish was the language most spoken, the "lifestyle" was Mediterranean, but the people insisted they were British and strongly rejected any suggestion of Spanish rule.
My suggestion is that anti-agreement Unionists should consider demanding their own permanently British space. This would not require a referendum, but an individual enquiry: how many people would choose to live together to avoid being outnumbered and swamped by non-British inhabitants? This would, for some, require a change of residence, but hundreds, perhaps thousands have moved home with just this motive during the past 30 years. Many others have emigrated for this reason, or for its mirror image.
Money saved from controlling civil dissent could be used to give generous financial help to people who wished to move in or out of the new statelet.
Think of Monaco, Andorra, San Marino - even the Vatican City. - Yours, etc.,
Mβire Mullarney, Whitechurch road, Dublin 14.