Someone more intelligent that I once said "If you know the answer to the Irish problem - then you don't understand the question" but that should never stifle debate and even argument.

To some people history is what they are taught, and as a non-catholic I certainly was taught a different history from the one I finally learned. We were not taught for example that the leaders of the 1916 rebellion (and remember it was more a socialist rising - and there is perhaps the real reason it was trampled down - than a nationalist one) had their bodies buried in limepits so that the bones would not be available or that Connolly was shot although it was clear he would die in a few days from gangrene in any case. Neither was I told that a Unionist minority in Derry elected the majority of the city councillors and that an employer had a vote for himself and each of his employees - thus effectively disenfranchising the minority.

This is the inherant unfairness that lead to the current troubles and the Unionists are rewriting history still. Paisley still trumpets "Ulster says No" but "Ulster" has never been asked! The province of Ulster consists of the six counties of Northern Ireland plus Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal so for Ulster to say "No" these three counties would need to have been included.

The earlier analogy to South Africa is quite valid in another way. A present the Unionists can claim to be the majority but within the next 5 to 10 years they will actually be the minority. Where to then? Will they accept the democratic decision at the ballot box or will the British Government of the day be forced once again to sent up another enclave in Ireland for them to retreat to? South Africa was also an example of a relatively new culture (The Boers) claiming precedence over the indigenous culture of the tribals Africans. This is mirror by Orangism in Northern Ireland today.

With regard to decommissioning I would ask Mr Timble if he trusted the IRA. The answer I am sure would be "NO" and that being the case he would not believe the IRA had decommissioned even if they said they had! I'm also sure that even if the IRA showed video footage of guns being destroyed then Trimble would class that as a mere stunt. So if he will never believe that the IRA have decommissioned, what is the point of insisting that they do so???

Quo Vadis?

Davebhoy