SF’s recipe for civil strife

Sir — Sinn Fein’s approach to Bobby Storey’s funeral, which was a show of strength, is an indication of how they intend to deal with the unionist population in the event of a majority in the North voting for a united Ireland.

They will try to intimidate them, it is as simple as that.

They have no strategy for achieving a united Ireland, other than that.

It is a recipe for civil strife on our streets again. Ultimately, it is an indication that the Provos never had a reasonable strategy for achieving a united Ireland in the first place, but were engaged in, in my opinion, attempting to force everybody, including the unionists, the British government, and non-violent nationalists in the SDLP into their solution.

The goal for nationalists in the North has always been to persuade the unionists of the benefits of a united country. That means good relations with unionists.

Sinn Fein has never understood that and seem to believe that, in the end, everybody will just back down and let them have their way. As I suggest, good relations with unionists are the precursor to Irish unity. Sinn Fein’s strategy is folly, appealing only to the ignorant. Repartition will be the unwanted child of this degenerative strategy.

Even at this late stage, Sinn Fein can repent of their ways and begin to live in the real world where a solution lies not in the endless deadlock they cause with the DUP, but in accepting that intimidation will never work.

John O’Connell,

Derry