A chara, – I have no problems with the reasons your reader Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh gave in asking Irish citizens to refrain from accepting honours from the British (Letters June 26th). Like it or not, I might add we Irish were up to our necks in building, enforcing and administering the same British Empire. In 2014, I was awarded an honorary MBE for my contribution to the Irish peace process. I proudly accepted the award as an acknowledgment of my work. My MBE medal sits in a frame on my sitting room wall alongside my junior hurling and senior football medals I won playing for my local GAA club, Craobh Chiaráin, and the medals I won playing for Killester Basketball Club. Hung beside it too is a letter I received from then-president Mary McAleese and then-taoiseach Enda Kenny acknowledging my work. That few square feet of sitting room wall in my home is a microcosm of Irish history; a reflection of who I am and my little bit for Ireland. – Yours, etc,
TOM BURKE, MBE
Dublin 13.