Opinion

English will go any depths to keep DUP bed fellows

I listened in horror at Karen Bradley’s justification of killings carried out by British forces and their willing allies in the six counties. There appears to be no end to the lengths to which the English will go to keep their DUP bed fellows happy. As relatives of those murdered by the state we have long been on the receiving end of English and unionist disrespect. Families have had to fight for decades in search of the truth, blocked in every way by the English government and vilified at every stage by their unionist puppets. 

In July 1970 my uncle, Patrick Elliman, was shot in the head by an English soldier, and died one week later without regaining consciousness. His shooting was deliberate and no-one has ever been made accountable. His shooting was not an accident, it was cold and calculated.  There was nothing dignified or appropriate about it. It was a crime, like so many others, against the Irish people. 

Listening to Karen Bradley deliver her statement was like receiving a punch in the face. It left you stunned, angry and if anything, more determined to force the truth from an uncaring foreign state, who still act like colonial masters who believe they have the right to deny truth and justice to those whose lives they took. Karen Bradley’s timing could not have been any worse or insensitive. The horrors of Ballymurphy are being recounted in court, the recent decision in the Pat Finucane and Pearse Jordan cases, and the long-awaited Bloody Sunday shootings prosecution decision imminent.


She must go, and go immediately. She has no credibility left. She needs to retire to a back bench from where her lack of respect will not be heard by decent, dignified relatives who, in spite of English and unionist obstruction and insults, will continue to fight for truth and justice.

PÓL WILSON


Belfast BT11

Prime minister’s game of dodgems has to end

WHILE the fate of Brexit could rest with a self-appointed star chamber of lawyers including Nigel Dodds the DUP will be seriously reproached should they accept watering down the replacement of the backstop as is explicit in the Sir Graham Brady amendment. Replacement is more than a mere non-binding promissory note from Brussels to undo the locking mechanism of the pernicious backstop. People will not allow either attempts to substitute a replacement – meaning removal with a whimsical arbitration panel or an insulting mini backstop. The prime minister’s game of dodgems has to end with the backstop ruled out of the withdrawal agreement and a decision taken without further prevarication to leave the EU on March 29.

Should it transpire that nothing will shift the Irish on the backstop it will prove impossible for the DUP to vote for a May deal which includes the backstop. Nigel Dodds has been exemplary in astutely articulating through tenacious diplomatic language the wholesale rejection of the backstop and the DUP’s support for its permanent replacement . Their stance so far has been conditional on what is good for Northern Ireland. The backstop is bad for us. Right now the DUP are in a place of influence. The Attorney General’s silky skills at spinning legal jargon will test the eight legal beagles and the DUP to the limit.

This is game-on, full throttle for Arlene Foster and her Westminster team.


Far better in the long run to enter the final round by staying true to your promises, not compromising but upholding your integrity rather than


risk your reputation at home for a moments glory basking in the temporary Tory sun.

DAVID McNARRY


Strangford, Co Down

Sinn Féin is like Trump without tan

Rather than a tactical masterclass from Sinn Féin, a united Ireland is now in our sights due mainly to the ineptness and obtuseness of the DUP. Demographics show that Catholics are nearing the 50 per cent mark and with the impending Brexit surely a border poll is in the offing? Sinn Féin, however, are massively miscalculating the strong Pro-Life movement in the more conservative six counties. They view Sinn Féin as the cheerleaders of the pro-abortion agenda as demonstrated in Dublin Castle last year. They fear what this new united Ireland may look like. They fear abortion on demand throughout Ireland. These people will be at a loss come election time. Sinn Féin has since lost two TDs, namely Peadar Tóibín and Carol Nolan. Peadar, who has said that “a baby’s life is worth more than my job” has shown tremendous courage and has offered these Pro-Life movements a lifeline. He has founded a ‘Pro-Life Republican Party’, Aontú. Not only cheerleading for abortion, Sinn Féin, went to London to ask Westminster to legislate for a part of Ireland on no less than three occasions. Whether you agree with the legislations they sought, it is wholly erroneous and reprehensible for any republican to do such things. Like Donald Trump without his tan, Sinn Féin has become unrecognisable. 

AODHÁN HUGHES


Darkley, Co Armagh 

British government has really outdone itself

Like many others I have recently heard the comments made by Karen Bradley and am appalled but not surprised this is typical from the British establishment.

Basically what she has said is that when the British army murdered 14 civilians in Derry and those in Ballymurphy and elsewhere:  “They were people acting under orders and under instruction and fulfilling their duty in a dignified and appropriate way.”


The British government always did appoint their best and ‘most intelligent’ village idiots to position of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. This time they have really out done themselves. She needs to go.

MARTIN McCAUL


Warrenpoint, Co Down

Progressive partnership

Much comment in The Irish News last week about Mr Durkan’s defection to Fine Gael, a centrist Conservative party 

Can any one offer an explanation as to why the SDLP, who profess to be social democrats, did not seek to join with Irish Labour, whose leftish political stance might fit more easily in a progressive partnership? 

PATRICK SMITH


Bangor, Co Down