Sir, Robert McCartney MP, leader of the UK Unionist Party, states that "the message to Mr Major must be this either you enforce the rule of law in Northern Ireland or like Mr Chamberlain, make way for someone who will (article, June 17th). It would not be on reasonable to conclude from this that Mr McCartney is implying the Prime Minister should make way for someone else, in the same way that Mr Chamberlain's resignation allowed Winston, Churchill to be come Prime Minister in 1940.
Ulster unionists are masters at shaping history to their purpose, but it is nevertheless mischievous of Mr McCartney to ignore the tact that Winston Churchill, before the first World War was pared to use force against Ulster unionists when they failed to observe the rule of law. When the majority of officers at the Curragh, under General Sir Hubert Gough, refused to accept the orders of the Cabinet, they were in breach of the rule law.
Ii is precisely the refusal of successive British governments to enforce the rule of law in Northern Ireland against the unionist community, when the latter have threatened the use of force which has been at the root of the Ulster troubles since 1912.
In 1974 the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was made up of a coalition of unionist and nationalist politicians, was brought down by the failure of the British, Government to deal with illegal, actions by the Ulster Workers' Council and the collusion between the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries. Thirteen years later, the Government again failed to adhere to the rule of law when it refused to accept the report of Assistant Chief Constable Stalker on the "shoot to kill" policy of the security forces in Northern Ireland.
Even when the Northern Ireland judiciary convicted Private Ian Thain of murder in 1987, the Government intervened to ensure that he was not court martialled and ordered his release after serving only three and a half years of a life sentence. Later, Private Lee Clegg, also convicted of murder, was not only not court martialled he was actually promoted in the Army.
If a government repeatedly brings the rule of law into contempt by refusing to enforce it against a particular section of the community, inevitably the democratic process is weakened, and those denied a sense of justice will resort to violence rather than choose the constitutional course.
Yours, etc., Dublin.