LETTER : IRA ceasefire ends: who bears the blame? Can the peace process be revived?

From Mr E. Paull

Sir: Those who heeded the pessimistic predictions of Conor Cruise O'Brien on the future of the peace initiative will not be surprised by the return to violence in the IRA.

Without the IRA and its violence, Sinn Fein would have been an insignificant force in the democratic process; but with the IRA, and the fear it engenders, Sinn Fein has been afforded a status grossly disproportionate to the support it attracts, not only in Northern Ireland, but also in the South.

The dismay and foreboding caused by the bombing has driven those anxious to placate the IRA into allying themselves with Irish nationalists who seek to shift blame for the outrage from its perpetrators on to the British government.

Faithfully,

E. Paull

London, SW16

10 February