The Alliance Party trumpets neutrality but has shown us that it is a long way from so

John Sproule is both right and admirably restrained when in his letter he calls Alliance’s move to dilute the motion condemning Dublin government collusion with the IRA disappointing (‘Stormont assembly debate brought a necessary focus on collusion between the Irish state and the IRA, but sadly Alliance diluted the motion’, Letters, October 4, see link below).

But he shouldn’t be one bit surprised. Over the years Alliance has, while trumpeting neutrality and virtue signalling frantically, consistently supported and helped push through republican excesses in every available forum in Northern Ireland.

From Belfast City Council banning the national flag to Stormont, where Alliance re-designated to Unionist from other to create a false Unionist majority and elect the supine Trimble as a soft option for First Minister that Sinn Fein could and did successfully bully... and then with a straight face re-redesignated back to other as soon as the dirty deed was done.

It is easy to see why the Alliance’s self-delusional aspiration to be lauded as neutral and moderate is a but a fond pipe dream, a forlorn hope. They have instead managed to get themselves a well-deserved reputation as untrustworthy hypocrites, forever saddled with the unenviable nicknames of either ‘Sinn Fein Lite’ or their /Faithful Little Helpers’.

Davy Wight, Carrickfergus

Stormont assembly debate brought a necessary focus on collusion between the Irish state and the IRA, but sadly Alliance diluted the motion

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