Madam, - Frank Bouchier-Hayes writes (Opinion, November 25th) that "the volunteers agreed as their Irish name Óghaigh na hÉireann, which the Irish Army reaffirmed as its official name in the 1954 Defence Act".
Note reaffirmed: In 1922 the name was jealously, proprietorially preserved by the National Army, which had the "squad", the "twelve apostles" and the Active Service Unit (ASU) as its nucleus. They had borne the heat and burden of the War of Independence.
He also writes: "That the IRA should have laid claim to the title is a matter of no small regret". It is more than a matter of very big regret: it is a matter of outrageous subversion and treason. - Yours, etc.,
J.P. DUGGAN,
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