Madam, - In an Evening Echo article on April 11th, I wrote that it was "a welcome sign of our political maturity that people can now publicly advance critical views about celebrating the Easter Rising without incurring the ugly name-calling ('West Brits', 'shoneens') freely applied by certain Irish-Irelanders a century ago".
It appears I spoke too soon. Those who have expressed unease about 1916 have been excoriated by Rising enthusiasts. Tim Pat Coogan (Evening Echo, April 12th, Irish Independent, April 15th) has contemptuously dismissed the doubters as colonial cringers and "crypto-unionists" (interesting that he should consider "unionist" a term of reproach).
In The Irish Times (April 12th) Garret FitzGerald was uncharacteristically intemperate about the "absurdity" of critics "sitting in judgment" on the 1916 men, including his father, of course. Moreover, he denounced the "mad" and "spurious" view that Home Rule would have led peacefully to independence. John Waters (The Irish Times, April 17th) referred to the "peevish self-hatred" of 1916 sceptics, and described them as "reactionaries".
Are we now in for a decade of intolerant invective à la DP Moran, directed at those opting out of the neo-glorification of the 1916 Rising? - Yours, etc,
JOHN A MURPHY, Rosebank, Douglas Road, Cork.
Madam, - Tony Moriarty (April 15th) puts forwards two "agreed areas" concerning the Rising: "1. There was no democratic mandate for the Rising at the time. 2. Its aim was a 32-county republic."
Both statements, on which he fabricates a case, are wrong. Unfortunately some people might be deluded by them.
On the same page your editorial contains an echo of the first of these: "its leaders' actions also created an undeniably undemocratic and militaristic strain in Irish politics" - whatever that may mean given the Fenian and republican tradition throughout the 19th century.
The reality is that, in 1916, capitalistic, exploitative imperialism was the world order and democracy as we understand it simply did not exist, here or anywhere else.
As for not having a mandate, the forum for any constitutional mandate in Ireland in 1916 was the British parliament. It seems to me to be highly unlikely that the proposal, "This House approves an armed republican rising in Dublin at Easter", would have got very far.
Moreover, and also flatly contrary to what you and Mr Moriarty suggest, the Proclamation of the Republic was a profoundly democratic document recognised today abroad, but not always here, as being far ahead of its time.
As for the objectives of the leaders - as opposed to any long-term aspiration - they were three:
1. To revive the spirit of national self-determination in the people.
2. To proclaim the republic.
3. To hold on long enough (three days) to fulfil the German requirement that would enable the Irish to be given a hearing as a belligerent nation at a post-war peace conference, then anticipated that same year. - Yours etc,
EOIN NEESON, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Those who suspected that the recent 1916 commemorations were a Fianna Fáil electioneering ploy had their fears confirmed by the brazen comments made by the Taoiseach at the opening of the 1916 exhibition at the National Museum last week.
Mr Ahern listed what he saw as being the "four cornerstones of Independent Ireland", namely the 1916 Proclamation; the 1937 Constitution; the Treaty of Rome in 1972; and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. He went on to say that "nobody should seek to own Irish history", which he described as a "shared legacy".
If he truly believes this, why did he refer only to achievements of Fianna Fáil-led governments? He ignores the many achievements of other governments since Independence - for example, the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922; the declaration of the Republic of Ireland in 1948; the Sunningdale Agreement in 1974; and the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. Does Mr Ahern really believe that these events were of no significance to the Ireland of today? To ignore these landmark events smacks of petty, partisan grudge-bearing, something to which we have become accustomed from Fianna Fáil these days.
The debate on 1916 has been characterised by a pathetic jousting match between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin over who "owns" its legacy, and we are now told this is to become an annual event.
Madam, if we are to be subjected to this kind of nonsense every year, I will seriously consider taking a foreign holiday every Easter. - Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH, Castletroy, Limerick.
Madam, - Now that the Bertie and Willie FF show is over and we have been more than adequately regaled with their revision of historical myths, perhaps one of them would like to do something really revolutionary. I refer to the action required to grant public access to Military Archives in a manner commensurate with the quality and quantity of the material and with the obvious level of interest on the part of students and academics.
Through no fault of the staff the present service is abysmal. In failing to fund, equip and staff the archive to even a basic level the recent administrations, particularly the Minister and Department of Defence, have fallen well short of their obligations under the Ministers' and Secretaries' Act, 1924 and the National Archives Act, 1986. Action, please! - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL C O'MALLEY, (Lieut Col, Ret'd), Castlewarden, Straffan, Co Kildare.
Madam, - The success of the recent commemorative events is in no doubt. The important task of re-establishing the legitimacy of Irish republicanism has been furthered. However, in all the commentary about the Rising and the subsequent founding of our State one name has been shamefully omitted. That name and that man is Tom Johnson.
Following the Rising, Tom Johnson, as president of the Trade Union Congress and Labour Party, skilfully worked for the continued unity of working people throughout Ireland. He subsequently led the Anti-Conscription Committee, drafted the Democratic Programme of the first Dáil and was Leader of the Opposition in Dáil Éireann in the important initial years of our independent parliament. Throughout his adult life he worked to turn James Connolly's ideals into a living reality.
Ireland should never forget Tom Johnson or the debt he is owed. - Yours, etc,
Cllr DERMOT LACEY, Beech Hill Drive, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.