Madam, - As one who would never wish to reclaim the spirit of 1916, I believe the moral imperative for maintaining democracy on this island is "thou shalt not kill". This must be the cornerstone of a democratic and civilised state, free from sectarian terrorism.
The 1916 rebellion caused the death of more than 400 people needlessly. In Ireland, one of the most democratic states in the world at that time, Home Rule was law through the democratic process, awaiting its application on the cessation of hostilities, but still with the problem of reconciling Sinn Féin and Unionism.
The rebellion intensified this division, ultimately ensuring lasting partition.
If President Mrs McAleese looks through her front windows into the Phoenix Park she will see the spot where my grandmother's cousin was murdered, the most senior civil servant in the Irish administration in 1882. Having experienced no "glass ceiling" and enjoyed many a port in the Kildare Street Club, Thomas Henry Burke, a Catholic doing his duty meticulously for the good government of Ireland, was one of the earliest victims of political murder.
Proclamations with high-sounding ideals are meaningless and insulting when some of the people it claims to liberate are then butchered.
If we are to ensure a politically stable state we must reject the ideals of 1916, even though it will be very painful for some of the families who have contributed enormously to the development of this State. Otherwise, every few generations we shall have IRA fellow-travellers proclaiming to be the true inheritors and enforcers of Ireland's freedom. The horrors of the past 30 years should have taught us something. - Yours, etc,
JOHN JOYCE, Main Street, Birr, Co Offaly.