Aims for Reform

Madam

Niall Cusack's scurrilous sideswipe against the Reform Movement (letters,
September 23rd) and Tom Cooper's misrepresentation of Reform's aims
(letters, September 28th) cannot be allowed to pass unchallenged. Reform
is not, as Mr. Cusack's letter implies, "racist", "supremacist", "West
British" or "unionist".

Reform's agenda for change in Irish society is liberal and pluralist. It
stands for tolerance and for the harmonious co-existence of all the
different identities and traditions in this country, including those of
recent migrants who are changing Ireland into a multicultural and
multiracial society.

Reform does not aim at the restoration of the Union with Britain, as
implied by Mr. Cooper, and nor does it support Protestant supremacism in Northern
Ireland. Reform stands for better Anglo-Irish relations and for the
closest possible co-operation and integration across these Islands, including in a
modern, changed Commonwealth context, which we think Ireland should
consider joining.

Reform is not a "West Brit" or a even Protestant organisation. It is a
non-denominational, non-party movement that includes in its ranks people
of different faiths (religious and secular) and different Irish identities.
Reform does value the British connection and the Protestant tradition in
Ireland, but that does not mean that we are not Irish patriots.

Reform's aim is to provoke and contribution to a debate about how we can
continue to move beyond the sectarian and divisive traditions of the past
and reshape Ireland as a postnationalist, pluralist society. Our
conference was a contribution to that agenda and we fully intend to continue to make
our voice heard, notwithstanding the efforts of Mr. Cusack and Mr. Cooper
to silence us by abuse and misrepresentation.

Robin Bury