Myers On 1916

Sir, - I write concerning Kevin Myers's diatribe on the 1916 Rebellion (An Irishman's Diary, August 26th)

Sir, - I write concerning Kevin Myers's diatribe on the 1916 Rebellion (An Irishman's Diary, August 26th). He states: "Not one of the 1916 leaders had ever stood for election. It was not that democracy had let them down: they had never even tried it." Not so. James Connolly was a member of the Irish Socialist Republican Party in the early 1900s and that party contested what were known then as municipal elections, the equivalent of our local elections today. He himself stood as a candidate in 1902, but was not elected. In 1912, of course, he founded the Irish Labour Party in Clonmel.

Mr Myers goes on to inform us that 1916 "is a hateful reality .. . which has caused generations of Irish young men and women to take up arms, to kill, to die, all in vain." A strange analysis of our history since I was under the impression that it was the continuing occupation of part of this country by Britain that has caused such behaviour. Much easier to blame ourselves, I suppose! - Yours etc., James Connolly Heron,

Oxford Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.