Sir, - Kevin Myers (July 7th) was on his favourite hobby-horse again, pouring out venom against the men of this country who heroically fought and died against a despotic mighty empire, in order that the majority of the people of this country could throw off the chains which had bound them for centuries.
And they had little choice. Democracy had failed them time and again. The 1916 Rising was, in the eyes of the law, illegal, but was justified on natural and moral grounds. A year later, the people of this island endorsed that Rising in the elections of 1917, by a landslide victory to Sinn Fein. Kevin Myers's "murderous events" of 1919-21 were then backed by the majority of the people.
How else could the guerillas of the time have fought an entire army, plus the murderous Black and Tans for two years? That was democracy in action, the will of the people being put into effect.
Mr Myers reminded us, once again, of the killing of many RIC during the period in question. The RIC were a hated force, and not without reasons. They were the precursor of the Gestapo in Germany, the KGB in Russia, and other despotic "police states". It has been said that a person couldn't blink in any village in Ireland without Dublin Castle knowing. - Yours, etc.,
Peter Pallas, Ballynacally, Ennis, Co Clare.