Sir, - It was with some annoyance that I read Nuala O'Faolain's column of August 25th in which she rejected as a sop for Irish nationalism the idea of John Hume's candidacy for the upcoming Presidential election.
In particular I was irritated by Ms O'Faolain's casual identification of herself and her readership as "we Southerners" and, further, by her isolation of the term "the Six Counties" as a "complicated term of abuse".
This question of geographical appelation is one which has dogged and continues to dog Irish political discourse. I, for instance, as a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, would be considered one of Ms O'Faolain's "Southerners", yet clearly, as a resident of Co Donegal, Ireland's most northern county, I am a northerner. Thus, while Ms O'Faolain attempts plurality she manages inadvertently to abuse myself and many other northerners. - Yours, etc., FRANK SHOVLIN Jnr,
Donegal Town, Co Donegal.