Sir, - Some years ago you published a letter of mine advocating rejoining the Commonwealth on the grounds that we were as much its mother country as Britain.
Irish brawn and Irish brain played a big part in building and, more importantly, in shaping the Commonwealth. The Free State Minister for External Affairs (1927-1932), Mr Patrick McGilligan, with Canada on his side, pulled "the old Colonial Empire asunder". He removed anomalies and anachromisms to achieve dominion status with Britain. Canada acknowledged him as the midwife of the new Commonwealth.
It seems petulant and pointless to turn our backs on our kith and kin and trading partners on the flimsy grounds of irrelevant symbol, which is of sentimental value to some, not all, members.
De Valera would never have left the Commonwealth. He was too pragmatic for that rhetorical indulgence. John A. Costello did not voluntarily leave it. In a fit of autocratic hauteur, Britain, against the wishes of the other members, propelled him out.
It's time to go back to our heritage and friends, old and new. - Yours, etc.,
J.P. Duggan, Cedarmount Road, Mount Merrion, Co Dublin