That message was the total inappropriateness and wrongness of having terrorists in the government of any democracy.

We learned how democracy is undermined and eventually destroyed by terrorism, instead of democracy destroying terrorism – a message that is as urgent as it is necessary.

The futility and offensiveness of having terrorists defining what terrorism is, and indeed, defining what a victim is, this is what is happening at Stormont.

One of the lies that terrorists have succeeded in getting people to believe, is that they had a very good reason why they resorted to terrorist violence to get where they are today, a lie that was refuted powerfully.

The issue surrounding "one man's terrorist being another man's freedom fighter" was also aired and demolished with great precision, and those who hold to such a viewpoint were shown to be very foolish.

The conference heard that the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland can be encapsulated in one word: terrorism. It is this (terrorism) that must be destroyed rather than accommodated by our institutions. If democracy does not destroy terrorism, terrorism will destroy democracy.

Rather than human rights being there to protect democracy, it is being used to undermine it, and to protect terrorists and their activities.

The use of politically correct language is an attempt to sanitise the language we use to describe what has been visited upon us during the past four decades. Practically everyone speaks about the conflict and the Troubles. A few describe it as it really was – an evil terrorist campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the decent people in Northern Ireland.

Unless and until there is accuracy in language and definition, there will be no possibility to deal with the continuing terrorist threat and activity. If you do not know precisely what you are talking about, you cannot deal with it.

The message is very clear: democracy and terrorism are incompatible and mutually exclusive. This message was reinforced by the acceptance of the Belfast Declaration at the end of the conference, and the setting up of a European-wide network of victims of terrorism groups.

The innocent victims' groups have made it abundantly clear that they will not compromise the memory of their murdered relatives with political compromisers, who now have no difficulty in getting "under the duvet" with the very people who murdered and maimed, despite their protestations to the contrary.

Victims are not stupid, they can discern who the genuine people are, and those who are playing games with them.

Indeed, victims are very deeply hurt and feel insulted when such politicians pretend that they are committed to addressing victims' issues, when in fact they have betrayed them. We have not been fooled by their honeyed words and their fine talk. Nor are we impressed by their secret deals done in the name of helping victims.

Victims will not be used as political pawns, or as instruments to give legitimacy to institutions at Stormont where terrorists are accepted as bona fide democrats, the very thing they are not!

We have said consistently that if victims' issues are not dealt with in a way which gives victims proper recognition and which supports them in opposition to those who made them victims, Northern Ireland's future will be bleak. The fact is, that this is still not being done, despite fine-sounding words.

J E Hazlett Lynch (Dr)
Magherafelt