A chara, – In his article on the 1921 Treaty ("The 1921 Treaty shaped Irish politics for a century", Century Supplement, May 26th), Leo Varadkar states that, "The British government had accepted the results of the 1918 election, including the mandate for independence, and was willing to negotiate." The majority Sinn Féin mandate of both the 1918 and 1921 general elections was for an Irish republic and against partition. By imposing partition and setting up the "Northern Ireland" parliament, the British government denied that mandate. Mr Varadkar states, "The reverse happened for nationalists north of the Border, few of whom fought for independence believing they would be left behind." Many nationalists and republicans in what was to become "Northern Ireland" fought for independence, both politically and militarily. And both Sinn Féin and the Nationalist Party in the 1921 general election opposed partition; in fact it was known as the partition election. They did so precisely because they knew they would be left behind in a partitioned Ireland. – Yours, etc,
MÍCHEÁL
MAC DONNCHA,
Baile Átha Cliath.