‘Trimble remarks show he's out of kilter'

Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble is ‘‘totally out of kilter with the way real people feel’’, a central figure in the bid to reconcile communities north and south of the border said today.

Tony Kennedy, chairman of the Peace and Reconciliation Platform, said the Ulster Unionist leader’s comments that the Republic of Ireland was a ‘‘pathetic, sectarian and mono-cultural state’’ showed a ‘‘gulf of misunderstanding still existing between the two parts of the island’’.