Madam, - As "the stocky man in shorts" who refused to shake hands with Gerry Adams on his electioneering visit to Boyle on Thursday, I want to comment on his election worker's statement (as reported by Róisín Ingle, May 3rd) that I was "emotionally caught up" and that the picture of Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley represented "the future not the past".
Well, yes and no! While I well remember the trauma that driving a proxy bomb 15 miles caused my brother, I, having moved South due to my job, was relatively unaffected.
Having lived on this side of the Border for over 35 years I remain thankful for my Northern upbringing where the republican values I learned were not based on the versions that at present flourish in west Belfast and west of the Bann.
The main reason I refused to shake hands with Mr Adams was because I also remember the great hopes North and South that were attached to the Sunningdale Agreement and the best efforts of Mr Adams and his associates and the good Doctor and his to make sure nothing came of those hopes. I refuse to see why I should be grateful to them for catching up 34 odd years later.
While happy that Sinn Féin and their "friends" in the IRA have now given up the "armed struggle" - ie, terrorism - I fail to see why their leading members should be feted and lionised for ceasing to do wrong.
- Yours, etc, LIAM J COYLE, Boyle, Co Roscommon.