I do not know how Northern Ireland has coped with the tragedy of the Troubles but we must renew efforts to get peace and friendship
Only those who have suffered in the way that Anne Graham and her family have suffered can truly understand the price that we have all paid for continuing conflict in Ireland (‘I was touched by the way students wanted to remember my murdered brother, Edgar,’ December 20).
Nothing can compare with experience in life and the understanding that comes with such experience. And we cannot privilege the suffering of any one person or group of persons among the thousands that have suffered in the Troubles so-called that continue to trouble us all.
I recall a visit to Crossmaglen and Cullyhanna with a friend some years ago (perhaps ten or more) when the army watch tower was still in place in the square at Crossmaglen and I visited the graves of the young men in the church at Cullyhanna.
I do not know how the people of Northern Ireland have coped with such a tragedy, but to a degree coped they have.
In recalling the painful memories of so many families we must renew our efforts to bring about peace and friendship across the peace walls that still divide us.
This is once again the Christmas wish of the English Parliamentary Party, which I lead.
Dr Gerald Morgan, Trinity College Dublin