Sir, - When I campaigned and voted "Yes" for the Good Friday Agreement I believed it offered the best way out of the past and hope for the future for my children, the people of Northern Ireland and the people of Ireland as a whole. I still firmly hold that view.
I voted particularly for the constitutional aspects:
the fact that there would be no change in the constitutional status of Northern Ireland inside the United Kingdom without the consent of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland;
that we create a partnership government between the various political parties in Northern Ireland sharing in the responsibility of governing all the people of Northern Ireland;
that we create a strong and close, albeit independent, relationship with our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland with especially co-operation in areas of mutual benefit.
This was and is the only realistic political settlement for the people on this island.
However, to achieve the constitutional settlement which will provide a strong foundation for the future I was forced to accept aspects which I and many others found distasteful such as:
the early release of murderers and others who have brought so much tragedy to Protestants and Catholics, nationalists and unionists alike over the past 30 years;
the fact that former terrorists may even end up as ministers in the Northern Ireland Assembly if they received a sufficient mandate.
In essence, what was being demanded by my own Government and the Irish Government was that in exchange for the constitutional aspects we had to draw a line under the past to enable a new future to be created and give it the best possible chance of success.
Since the Agreement, however, we have had to tolerate:
1. murders and punishment beatings by various paramilitary organisations without apparent sanction against their political representatives;
2. no declaration by Sinn Fein/ IRA that the war (if that was what their form of genocide is properly called) was over;
3. early release of prisoners by insensitive government before any weapons were handed in;
4. continuing terrorism from the "Real IRA" with at best a faint distinguishing line between them and the IRA.
At some stage reality had to be brought to the situation and the governments were aware of that yet still failed to take the appropriate action to implement and protect what the vast majority had voted for. Unfortunately that reality arrived in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Yet again, our hearts have been broken. My wife and I held each other and our children in sorrow and this was no doubt mirrored in most homes in Northern Ireland. Another piece of us all died on that day.
Yet I will still work for that future I believe in. I feel it is necessary to repeat what we all voted for and that part which I call "the spirit of the Agreement". "We are committed to partnership, equality and mutual respect as the basis of relationships within Northern Ireland, between North and South, and between these islands.
"We reaffirm our total and absolute commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means of resolving differences on political issues, and our opposition to any use or threat of force by others for any political purpose, whether in regard to the Agreement or otherwise."
With the deaths of 28 Irish people and over 200 injured, the time for equivocation had gone. It was clear, though, that my own Government would only implement appropriate security measures which were acceptable to the Irish Government. I welcome the swift response and lead that the Irish Government has taken on security and I trust that this will be mirrored by my own Government. I sincerely hope that we have finally reached a point where Irish nationalists will prove to the unionists that they are prepared to create that future together on this island, which we all hope will be reached through the Good Friday Agreement, and one where we are at least united against those who would ever again use violence to further their political aims.
I am asking my fellow Irish to now give the people of Northern Ireland that support so that the peaceful future we all strive for can finally become a reality. - Yours, etc., Trevor Ringland,
Tweskard Park,
Belmont Road,
Belfast 4.