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RUC reservists’ claims are valid 
Letters 20/11/09I write in my capacity as chairman of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC Association part-time officers welfare group in response to the letter written by Mark Sykes of Relatives for Justice in Belfast (November 6). Mr Sykes clearly does not grasp why the part-time reserve were seeking a ‘gratuity’ payment...
Only an inquiry can solve 1981 Hunger Strike issues
Letters 20/11/09Having read the two articles on the 1981 Hunger Strike issue (Irish News, October 22) of an offer made by the British, a number of things jumped out at me. Firstly, how Richard O’Rawe stuck to asking questions and quoting named sources to make the points that he...
Good reason not to wear poppy
Letters 19/11/09The debate about whether or not to wear a British poppy in Ireland has once again engaged the general public. The same arguments for and against are once again presented. The most cited argument in favour seems to be ‘remember those Irishmen...
Thanks for support during Fr Michael’s kidnap ordeal
Letters 19/11/09Columban missionaries in Ireland would like to acknowledge their appreciation of the important role played by the media – print and electronic – in sympathetically covering the abduction and subsequent release of Fr Michael Sinnott SSC.
Sinn Fein abandoned ex-prisoners long ago
Letters 18/11/09L Dempsey (October 26) said that Sinn Fein had abandoned former prisoners. Unfortunately the abandonment took place a long time ago – it just took us a while to work that one out. While some ex-prisoners claim that they have never had problems gaining employment, sadly it has not been so rosy in the...
Police reserve not fully representative
Letters 18/11/09On November 10 Jeffrey Donaldson insisted that if the phasing out of the full-time PSNI reserve continued then the DUP would not support the devolution of policing and justice and that it would not happen. This is despite the fact that the phasing out of the full-time PSNI reserve was...
Success in Uganda
Letters 18/11/09Following the success of our 2009 project to build a primary school in rural Uganda, we had the pleasure of hosting the Voices of Life choir, made up of pupils from Uganda, in September. The choir gave a one-off performance in the centre to help launch the next phase of the project. In May 2010 the...
Who does Paul Armstrong’s family sue?
Letters 17/11/09Forgive me for not jumping up and down with joy – recently it has been widely covered in the media that Libya has struck a compensation deal with the British government. Nigel Dodds and Jeffrey Donaldson joined a cross-parliamentary group that headed to Libya in a bid to...
The facts of the hunger strikes have already been established
Letters 17/11/09Brendan Hughes’s second anniversary is coming up in February. Manus McDaid (October 26) seems to think that because he is not long dead, no one can know his reasons for ending the first hunger strike – “we can only surmise”, he writes.
Innocent victims deserve the truth
Letters 16/11/09December 4 will be the 38th anniversary of the McGurk’s Bar massacre in Belfast. Last July, Michael Connarty MP (Labour Linlithgow and East Falkirk) – whose great uncle, Philip Garry, was one of the...
A vote for SDLP and SF is not for united Ireland
Letters 16/11/09Isn’t it ironic that all the rhetoric about nationalists being sold out and promoting the idea of a united Ireland is coming, not from Sinn Fein, but the SDLP instead? And why not, if it worked for Sinn Fein in the past, why can it not work for the SDLP now?
It’s not just who you know but where you are from
Letters 16/11/09Please can someone explain to me how on earth a public representative of the stature of Conor Murphy can shout “political policing” the minute a party member is subject to scrutiny?
Carson warned us not to trust Tories
Letters 16/11/09The big guns of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists New Force (UCUNF) are out gunning for me. First it was Sir Reg Empey (October 20), now it is communications director Alex Kane (October 7) launching rather personal attacks, preferring as they do to shoot the messenger.
Only hard evidence can penetrate the mysteries of killings in west Cork
Letters 14/11/09Pierce Martin (November 10) must try to distinguish between publishing a theory about an event and a narrative account of an event. All sorts of theories have been rumoured, suggested, published and broadcast about the Dunmanway killings of 1922 but no narrative exists, precisely because of the prevalence of so many theories and the absence of documents – even of specific local rumour or gossip.
Meningitis dilemma
Letters 14/11/09a young girl is fighting for her life after meningitis was reportedly mistaken for swine flu – the signs and symptoms are very similar.
At the Meningitis Trust, our thoughts are with the child’s family at this difficult time.
Quo vadis on bovine TB
Letters 14/11/09In the past, government departments have responded to my column when my facts needed to be challenged.
Come on, Caitriona. Forget the outdated ideologies
Letters 14/11/09As the parent of a nine-year-old I am deeply concerned at the distress being faced by all too many parents, teachers and pupils over the deregulated selection system. Politics have failed our children.
Details of legal abortions must be open to public scrutiny
Letters 13/11/09Official figures released in response to an assembly question asked by SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey revealed that almost two babies a week were aborted in Northern Ireland in 2008 (Legal abortions rise to two a week, November 11).
Speaking of freedom
Letters 13/11/09It seems we have to be careful if we wish to use the phrase ‘a united Ireland’ and we have to be careful who we say it to, as it is ‘at worst dangerous’.
Let Sinn Fein speak on guns now
Letters 13/11/09Sinn Fein before decommissioning used to say: “We want to see all guns taken out of Irish politics”.
What we have in the north is not democracy
Letters 13/11/09There has been a lot of debate in the media recently about Britain fighting for and delivering democracy to Afghanistan etc.
They don’t even know the meaning of the word.
Legalised abortion has made earth a planet of death
Letters 12/11/09Recently issued physicians’ guidelines from the UK’s Department of Health presume that abortion is a legitimate form of health care for women in Northern Ireland and will be used to put pressure on doctors and health trusts to “put in place procedures which will facilitate abortion”.
Nationalists are losing the battle of the peace
Letters 12/11/09The latest demand by the DUP – for the abolition of the Parades Commission – provides yet further confirmation of who is running the administration at Stormont.
A new day for Derry
Letters 12/11/09The city of London/Derry is at a disadvantage in drawing inward investment. However it does have potential.
The army base at Ballykelly had the longest airport runway in Europe during the Second World War enabling heavily laden aircraft to roll to a stop without using their brakes.
Let the Pope come says ‘born again’ Christian
Letters 12/11/09I am a Protestant and shall always be one.
My grandfather was for 20 years the master of the village loyal Orange lodge.
The judgment of Solomon?
Letters 12/11/09Una Marron’s attempt (November 4) to discredit the Goldstone Report couldn’t work.
‘Repentance’ for MLAs
Letters 12/11/09I WAS appalled but not surprised by the culture of extravagance by representatives at Westminster, Stormont and Dail Eireann; and the enforced resignation of the Speaker by opposition parties not prepared to tolerate any longer his lavish spending of taxpayers’ money on travel and high living.
‘Logic’ isn’t always supreme
Letters 12/11/09Brian Feeney’s article (October 7) – entitled ‘Sinn Fein’s treaty stance is out of step with the Irish people’ – intrigued me.
He said: “What is logical isn’t always true”.
Let’s get the facts right first
Letters 12/11/09Manus McDaid (October 19) asks what does national sovereignty means?
Police all over the world are now playing Gaelic games
Letters 12/11/09FG Walker’s letter (November 5) was nothing more than character assassination against the GAA. FG wants to know how many non-Roman Catholics ‘play the sport in Northern Ireland,
Let’s go, Peter: You’re the leader
Letters 12/11/09I wonder when First Minister Peter Robinson’s unionist community will have confidence in the PSNI, a ministry of justice, devolution etc.
The Church and the Land League
Letters 11/11/09I note that earlier this month (November 1) otherwise sensible and rational adults huddled together in pathetic groups hoping for the descent of heavenly figures through the rain clouds at Knock. Two weeks earlier a Catholic church in west Belfast hosted two ‘faith healers’, one of whom claimed to be...
It’s easy to defend the GAA
Letters 11/11/09FG Walker (November 5) tried feebly to equate the GAA with apartheid (ironically a regime that supplied guns used to murder GAA members). He asked: How many ‘non-Catholics’ play this sport? – Not enough.
Lest we forget
Letters 11/11/09On November 11, we pause to honour those who fought to protect our countries and our Christian heritage. As we reflect on the supreme sacrifices our soldiers made for us we should call to mind that we...
Poppy pride
Letters 11/11/09Last weekend myself and a friend went into Belfast city centre for a meal. We visited three venues which were fully booked and decided to try a leading bar/restaurant where we were surprised to be refused entry as we were wearing poppies.
Let’s hear for the innocent internees
Letters 11/11/09Mark Sykes (November 7) referred to ‘hearing loss’ claims which he estimated would run into hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation for RUC members whose hearing was affected after firing their weapons during target practise at ‘sleeping terrorists’ and alleged real ones.
Wickedly bad
Letters 11/11/09Sinn Fein may be viewed as the political version of Jedward – completely out of tune yet people still vote for them.
Beware the evil ghosts of history
Letters 10/11/09Jack Lane’s chilling characterisation (November 2) of the 1922 murders of Captain Herbert Woods and Thomas Hornibrook (aged 81) and his son Samuel – following the unprovoked armed aggression by IRA man Michael O’Neill into the Hornibrook house, which resulted...
Happy family
Letters 10/11/09THANKS to The Irish News for publishing my letter seeking information on my paternal grandfather’s siblings. My grandfather was Francis H Vallelly, born October 20 1864 in Armagh.
Happy hospital
Letters 10/11/09I HOPE the threatened cuts in the health service are at management level and not in the nursing staff who do all the hard work. While on holiday in Fermanagh I became seriously ill and was admitted to the Erne Hospital, Enniskillen where I...
Bobby Sands himself told us the British offered the hunger strikers ‘nothing’
Letters 10/11/09I often look back to my time on the blanket protest and feel honoured to have spent some of those dark, often cold brutal days sharing a cell with Tom McElwee and Bobby Sands. The darkest days were those of the two hunger strikes and I clearly remember the night of December...
Speed the day when Sinn Fein goes gay
Letters 09/11/09Jim Gibney (October 29) said that gay and lesbian people born before the 1970s must be amazed by the media coverage in the last few weeks over the death of Stephen Gately and the coming out of GAA player Donal Og Cusack.
Don’t trust politicians
Letters 09/11/09People in positions of power often come to think they are above the rules which apply to the rest of us. The recent expenses claims by Westminster MPs occurred because they believed they were so...
No Pope here until he surrenders child abusers to the courts
Letters 09/11/09Margaret McGivern has courageously taken the step to highlight the abuse she experienced as a child – while in the care of a Catholic-run institution – not only to the attention of the media but to the politicians in the Northern Ireland Assembly, the very core of the people who govern our lives.
