The report went on to say that Gregory Campbell caused "outrage" at the conference with a speech on discrimination against Protestants, and that his speech caused "uproar".

Your readers will have been left with the impression that Gregory Campbell received rough treatment at the conference, that he was subjected to intimidatory behaviour and that the conference became unruly. This is, quite simply, untrue.

Mr Campbell was received at the conference with courtesy; he was listened to quietly and attentively, and without interruption. There was no "outrage" or "uproar", either before, during, or after his address. Mr Campbell was asked some searching questions after his speech, and he became quite passionate in defence of his views.

I doubt if anyone in the audience was very surprised by Mr Campbell's trenchant assertion that the Protestant community are now the most seriously discriminated against. His views are well-known. The fact that some in the audience made known their disagreement, in reasonable and normal tones, can hardly have surprised him.

Fortunately, the entire conference has been recorded on video. I invite the Editor of the News Letter, or anyone nominated by him, to look at the video recording, and judge for themselves whether Mr Campbell was treated with courtesy or not, and whether or not there was "uproar". It is notable that, before he left, Mr Campbell politely thanked the organisers for inviting him to the conference, and left unaccompanied and without interference.

It should be also noted that both Ivan Cooper and Paddy Doherty strenuously refute the claims by Gregory Campbell that the Presbyterian Church at Great James Street was under siege.

Mr Campbell and other Unionist spokespersons have been invited to our commemorative activities for a reason.

Those of us who were involved in the leadership of the Civil Rights Campaign in 1968 are very aware of how our own perspectives have changed in the intervening 40 years. Other unionists, who have participated in our activities, have discussed with us how their perspectives have also changed in that time. And this has been a central purpose of our programme.

It is essential to our development as a society that we examine our past honestly and critically, to learn the lessons of it, so that we can apply those lessons to our future.

It is regrettable, and even sad, that Gregory Campbell's "anger" and "smouldering, simmering resentment" have "never been extinguished". It is very regrettable that the intervening 40 years have not mellowed or moderated his attitudes, as it has those of most people.

But it was important that our conference audience should hear that, so that we can measure the extent of the problem still to be solved.

Denis Haughey
Chair of the Civil Rights Commemoration Committee