Sir, On Monday June 2nd, in a letter to The Irish Times, I made the point that John Bruton, as Taoiseach, had not advanced the peace process since a ceasefire was achieved by his predecessor in 1994. Indeed, a case could be made that the situation in Northern Ireland has regressed to a point where it is actually worse than before the September 1994 ceasefire, with the Taoiseach leaning towards the negative view of Mr De Rossa, rather than the progressive one advanced by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The killings of the two policemen in Lurgan was an appalling act. But it is of no help to the peace process to have our present Taoiseach (as reported in your paper) addressing phrases like "weasel words", "height of hypocrisy" to Mr Adams and accusing him of "ransacking the dictionary" to hide his real feelings. The emphasis should be on encouraging democratically elected representatives to the negotiating table rather than keeping them away. The first President of the Irish Free State, Mr W.T. Cosgrave (leader of the party from which Fine Gael grew), five years after the Civil War had ended, was party to the process which enabled Mr de Valera's previously outlawed followers to take their seats in the Dail. No one said then that W.T.'s actions were "the height of hypocrisy". He was quite the opposite - a brave and forthright man who wanted to get Irishmen down from the hills and into parliament so that the democratic process could be brought forward.
Can one beg Mr Bruton in the few days that remain to him as Taoiseach to refrain from indulging himself further in emotive language of a kind which can only hinder rather than help the peace process? - Yours, etc.,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.