I believe everyone has rights, including the unborn child. However, I am a mother of a very severely disabled son who needs 24-hour care. Our son changed our lives and expectations completely. Our other children suffered in so many ways. Our son with disabilities has suffered the most and this has been on going all his life. As yet I have never had any offers of help from any pro-life groups.
To decide to have an abortion is one of the most difficult decisions anyone would have to make so instead of condemning why don’t pro-life groups offer their time and energy into helping these families.
PATRICIA WILSON
Co Armagh
North’s political parties are adrift on a sea of uncertainty
At present there is much speculation upon the way forward for politics in the six counties. The political parties are adrift on a sea of uncertainty. Questions have been asked but no practical answers given. Perhaps, at this time, there needs to be a two-prong approach by the wider nationalist community.
Firstly, Stormont must be completely abandoned. It has failed and will continue to fail as unionism is not yet ready to embrace equality. Nationalists should pander no more to the worst excesses of supremacist unionism. All official and ‘cultural’ bias must be identified and countered. Marches, flags and emblems, bonfires, streets names, etc all need to be challenged and amended.
Strong focus should be placed upon the councils. Much greater powers could be sought so that local councils become proper local governance. Councils can then arrange to share resources to improve efficiency. This will suit nationalist-controlled councils better than unionist ones but, then again, that’s unionism’s problem. If they refuse to jump towards a future based on mutual respect and equality, then let them be pushed by their own glaring failures.
The second strand involves a strategy of working towards a semi-autonomous Ulster, to include Co Louth, within an Irish Republic. Ulster should then have de facto independence for at least one generation. This would create a much-needed breathing space for our citizens to get to know one another anew.
The international community would certainly be forthcoming in financially assisting such a resolution to this protracted dispute. The momentum created would ensure prosperity for all residents of Ulster.
Stormont is a buffer. It protects Downing Street from our anger, regardless of which side of the house it emanates from. The English administration would, of necessity, be obliged to directly engage in the six counties during any phase of council promotion. They would be publicly held to account for any failures.
Workable proposals are short on the ground. Perhaps the common identity of Ulster man and woman should be the foundation upon which we build our future in this part of Ireland.
ANTAN O DALA AN RI
Newry, Co Down
If border is needed it should be in the right place
According to Brian Feeney (August 23), ‘Twenty-four years ago, the IRA army council had to be convinced that the British recognised the Irish people’s right to self-determination. It was enshrined in a carefully worded paragraph in the 1993 Downing Street Declaration which was shown beforehand to the IRA to gain their acquiescence.”
Five years later the following carefully worded declaration was enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement: “It is hereby declared that Northern Ireland in its entirety remains part of the United Kingdom and shall not cease to be so without the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland”.
Mr Feeney partly quoted a paragraph in the GFA. The full paragraph states: “it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, north and south, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish, accepting that this right must be achieved and exercised with and subject to the agreement and consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland”.
Clearly the border is in the wrong place. The real divide is not between ‘the two parts’. It is between the two peoples, between the Ulster British people and the Irish people. All the talk is about a hard or a soft border. However, if a border is needed it should at least be in the right place. In short, equal self-determination for the Ulster British people. Never mind the IRA army council.
MALACHY SCOTT
Belfast BT15
Baseless assertion
What did John Taylor think was meant by the inclusion of the words parity of esteem in the Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrew’s Agreement? Also following his non sequitur that would mean unionists are not equal to Irish nationalists because unionists are a minority in Ireland. No-one would be stupid enough to make such a baseless assertion as it contradicts The Proclamation. It should be emphasised how devoid of intelligence and baseless his statements were. Does he really think the Troubles would have ended on the presupposition of equality of opportunity?
Another thing, since when are unionists for equality of opportunity? Did unionists not persuade British diplomats to lobby against MacBride principles? My patience is wearing thin. When are we, the Irish nationalist section of the community, going to call time on compromising for this sub par farce?
EAMONN MacGRIANNA
Belfast BT11
Paralysing the will of the majority
I am old enough to remember accusations of gerrymandering against unionist leaders. I see no difference when another Gerry is denying the people who voted for their representative in the last election the opportunity to have their voice heard in parliament in research, debate, decision and delivery. Everyone will suffer as the result of a leader of a sizeable minority deciding to paralyse the will of the majority.
Come on, our friends in London, Dublin and Washington would not close their parliament as the place where differences are aired.
DAVID BARBOUR
Coleraine, Co Derry
The right to a vote was one of the issues which brought about the Civil Rights Campaign in 1968. Many citizens were denied a basic right and took to the streets. Irish citizens in the six north eastern counties have always been denied the right to vote in Irish elections in the south. They should have the right to vote in the next presidential election. It is up to the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD, to make this possible. There are many others here who feel just as strongly as I do about this injustice and Mr Varadkar should pay attention.
Fr JOE McVEIGH
Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh
