Sir, – So much for the hope that since UK prime minster Andy Burnham was reared Catholic with a great respect for the social justice teaching of the Catholic Church, he would better understand the injustice of the Northern Ireland state. On his first visit there, he in effect betrayed a fundamental tenet of the Belfast Agreement.Is he out to prove the wisdom of Charles de Gaulle’s famous quote that “For England … there is no alliance that holds, no treaty that is respected, no truth that matters“? Or, as David Lloyd George did, tell Catholics one thing about the treaty, and Protestants another thing?Fr Sean McManus,President, Irish National Caucus,Washington Sir, – Michael McDowell (“Burnham is right: poll should be off the table for now”, Opinion, September 2nd) sets out in clear format the issues that need to be addressed right across the political divide.Maybe these should be the basis of the overall agenda for those at the coal face in pushing this important matter forward over the next decade or so. Any period less than that is just not realistic. – Yours, etc,John Cranfield,Dublin 18.