In refusing to go into coalition with Sinn Fein, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties show contempt for the will of the Irish people

In refusing to go into coalition with Sinn Fein, the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties are showing contempt for the will of the Irish people, just as they seem to show contempt for the English people (mostly working-class people) who voted to leave the European Union in the referendum of June 2016 (a century after the Irish people expressed their love of independence and sovereignty for Ireland) and in successive general elections in 2017 and 2019.

I hope that Sinn Fein will work with all the English parties, including the English Parliamentary Party, to bring about the peace and friendship between Ireland and England that have eluded us in many ways over many years.

But we must show respect also for unionists in Northern Ireland.

If Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will not work in government with Sinn Fein in the South they cannot possibly expect the unionists to work in government with Sinn Fein in the North.

This kind of self-interested political hypocrisy must come to an end.

Dr Gerald Morgan, Trinity Colleg Dublin, former leader English Parliamentary party