Gerry Adams and Garvaghy Road

The following letter appeared in the Irish Times (16 February):

Despite his sometimes repeated hope/wish to reach out to the Protestant unionist/loyalist people, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams continues to support the Garvaghy Road Residents Committee in denying Orangemen their right to enjoy their traditional parade (now reformed to answer residents' complaints) along the Garvaghy Road (Home News, February 13th).

Comforted, presumably, by the insipid popular meaning of the Irish Tricolour - the hopes/wishes for peace between the two historic traditions - he ignores the need to call for the 'lasting truce between Orange and Green' which is signified by the flag's white strip (as pointed out by Thomas Francis Meagher when he presented the flag to Ireland in 1848).

Obstructing the Orangemen from the Garvaghy road is an insult to the national flag's inclusive nature.  It allows it to be dismissed as politically sectarian, even racist, as it hangs from the lamp-posts along the Garvaghy Road.

JAMES McKEEVER

Dublin Road

Kingscourt

Co Cavan