Madam, - In your edition of May 7th Deaglán de Bréadún makes the point that the DUP must take account of "the needs and requirements of the nationalist minority". He goes on to say that "the two governments in London and Dublin, not to mention their allies in the US and EU, will not be kindly disposed to any attempt to impose Paisleyite norms on the Northern Ireland political scene".
However, as Kevin Myers pointed out in his Irishman's Diary of the previous day, the two governments, with their allies in the US, have for many years been very kindly disposed to backing the nationalist agenda via the ongoing appeasement of one political party with direct connections to a terrorist army. I believe that to be an irrefutable fact. I would also say that while the DUP and its supporters will very likely take account of the "needs and requirements" of the nationalist minority, they will not necessarily have to do anything positive in that regard.
They can live quite comfortably with direct rule. They will most likely leave it up to the nationalist minority to sort out its own self-imposed problems as evidenced by the continued voting patterns in favour of Sinn Féin.
While Deaglán de Bréadún makes a poor attempt at balance, Kevin Myers digs bravely for the truth and the sometimes unpalatable reality that confronts nationalists on both sides of the Border. The DUP might well have been relegated to a minority status in Northern politics had Sinn Féin jettisoned its armed supporters in the IRA. Blame for the polarisation in Northern politics can be clearly traced to Sinn Féin/IRA intransigence and the cowardice of at least two Government leaders in the face of thinly veiled threats to the democratic process. - Yours, etc,
NIALL GINTY, Killester, Dublin 5.