Arlene reaches out to the South

The speech delivered by DUP leader Arlene Foster in Killarney last weekend was an encouraging one (MoS, January 14). She compared Ireland North and South to a semi-detached house: it looks the same on the outside, but the insides can be very different. But they are also ‘tied together and part of the same neighbourhood’.

It’s positive to see her reaching out to the Republic in this way. I think there’s an unfortunate tendency, both in the Republic and in Britain, to dismiss the DUP as Neanderthals deserving of nothing but contempt. It would serve us all a lot better if we sought to understand the mindset of Northern unionists instead of simply dismissing them. Michael Keane, Cork city.