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Peace walls and a united Ireland
about 3 hours ago
Sir, – Proinsias De Rossa argues cogently for a re-evaluation of the “noble aspiration” of a united Ireland, given the existence of 20 miles of peace walls highlighting the division between the communities in the North (Letters, April 23rd).
More than half the peace walls that exist today were built after the signing of the Belfast Agreement.
As GK Chesterton wrote, “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.”
Mr De Rossa is right that community reconciliation is the priority. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Workers’ Party splits again with Cork/Belfast faction vs Dublin The party’s sole elected representative has been told he is no longer a member and each group is claiming to be the ‘real’ Workers’ Party 25th April, 2021
Ted Tynan, a Cork City councillor, was recently told he was no longer a member of the Workers’ Party because he had not paid his registration fees on time. Picture: John Allen
The Workers’ Party is at the centre of another divisive split, with a declaration that its sole elected councillor is no longer a party member.
The party’s origins date back to an ideological split in the republican movement in 1970, but it has split and rebranded several times since.
Why is a united Ireland necessary?
about 5 hours ago
Sir, – Please let us all now step back from this Border poll nonsense before it’s too late.
The Taoiseach Micheál Martin is correct. A Border poll would be explosive. Those of my generation know exactly what that means; as do the survivors and the relatives of the many thousands who died during the civil war that raged in Northern Ireland from 1970 to 1998, now euphemistically and callously called “The Troubles”.
It is a common part of our public discourse in the Republic of Ireland to say one agrees with, wants, or supports the idea of a “united Ireland”.