A chara, - On the front page of The Irish Times of October 28th I am quoted as saying that "Dr O'Brien's analysis was in keeping with the one he had been proposing since 1969." This paraphrasing is open to misinterpretation. My press statement of October 27th said:
"Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien has admitted after more than 25 years that the sovereign British government holds the key to the conflict in the Six Counties and that all-Ireland dialogue should follow action by them, something many people have known all along.
"Republican Sinn Fein said this in 1969 and ever since. Dr O'Brien censored and opposed this viewpoint down the years."
The way to break the log-jam in the Six Occupied Counties for close on three decades has been through movement by the British Government. We are glad that Conor Cruise O'Brien has at last publicly acknowledged this basic fact. - Yours, etc., Ruairi O Bradaigh,
President,
Republican Sinn Fein,
Parnell Street,
Dublin 1.