Letters: Ulster's peril

Sir: The present situation in Northern Ireland is a hiatus postponing a disaster. The d'Hondt cabinet system to be imposed on Northern Ireland by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, so that every party takes executive cabinet seats in proportion to the election result, is the root cause of the disaster now overtaking Belgium, the only other country to try it.

The succession of resigning ministers and collapsed cabinets in Belgium over the past five years came about not because they themselves were involved in the paedophilia and food-poison scandals, but because of non-disclosure to the public by a d'Hondt cabinet. With your worst enemy sitting beside you whatever an election result, the system breaks the executive into withdrawn, secret cabals of party and personal interest.

The collapsed European Commission had exactly the same problem over cloaking fraud. D'Hondt (appropriately pronounced as "Don't") is a ludicrous idea for a Belfast parliament especially.

PADDY McGARVEY

Research Director

Irish Parliament Trust

Cambridge