IRELAND : AFGHANISTAN ON THE DOORSTEP.

I see that a young policeman has been killed in Northern Ireland by a bomb planted under his car. Forget Afghanistan and Iraq, we have our own insurrection on the doorstep.

Despite all of the efforts made over many decades, there are still fanatics who seem to believe that violence against entirely innocent people is a justified response to their grievances. That their grievances are born out of religious differences makes the situation even more poignant.

The 'Irish Problem' has dogged successive UK Governments for centuries; it is akin to the arguments put forward by occupied territories all over the globe and is incapable of resolution without some compromise by both sides. In Ireland, a compromise of sorts was arrived at a few years ago when the IRA agreed a ceasefire and politicians took centre stage. Since then nothing more has happened and it is inevitable that young firebrands will see this as a betrayal; they will want to 'up the ante' and start to put more pressure on the UK Government to move towards their aim which is a united Ireland.

The question to be answered is 'Why is Ireland divided ?' Ireland was a separate entity in historical times and English kings had a tenuous hold on it; before Henry VIII, they were styled as 'Lords of Ireland' while exerting varying degrees of influence over the country. Henry changed his style to 'King of Ireland' but it wasn't until 1801 that Ireland was officially absorbed into the United Kingdom. It stayed that way until 1922 when, due to continuing unrest, the Irish Free State, was created as a breakaway entity.

There is no logic to any island of this size being divided into 2 separate nations, let alone having one of them as nothing but a part of a different country. The only reason for the division is religious; the south is catholic, the north is protestant. Are we living in the dark ages ? The division in 1922 was a political answer to what is a religious issue; there is no logical reason for Ireland, as a whole, to be anything other than an independent country. Can these people, all Christian, not find a way of living together ? Isn't one's religion a private matter, quite separate from everyday life ? In Ireland it seems that the reformation created issues that have never been resolved and probably never will be.

These days we still seem to have terrorists, masquerading as religious zealots, who are intent on forcing a reunification at all cost. Reunification should happen; there is no reason, other than religious bigotry, that it should not, but killing policemen is not the way.