Madam, - Congratulations on your brilliant supplement on the 1916 Rising. Of particular interest was your take on how all political parties lay claim to its legacy - a claim you rightly do not make for your own organ. Reprinting the two editorials must have been very painful.
When you strip away the cant and the bullshit 1916, like all wars, was about killing people. Not much to commemorate or celebrate. Here's one who will not be doing either.
- Yours, etc,
JAMES MORAN, Knockanure, Bunclody, Co Wexford.
Madam, - I read extensively your magnificent and supremely informative chronicle of the 1916 Rising - many of the facts of which are so well-known to so many from early schooldays. But the perspective of that extremely violent and bloody period of European history which you stress (also in your Editorial of the same date) most effectively renders those tragic events here down to size.
As reported at the time, the coverage was limited, taking a back seat to the monumental events of a Great War between conflicting empires. But, relatively small as the Rising was in contemporary global terms, it was chronologically the first movement in the eventual dismantling of one of the greatest empires in history. It also gave birth to the urban guerrilla movements often entailed in such dismantling.
There have been some queries about the reinstatement of military parades to commemorate the Rising this Easter. As in 1916, the military is evidence of the political presence of a national state, as most spectacularly, even elegantly, displayed in Paris every July 14th - and, significantly, in the handover of Hong Kong by Britain to China in 1997, when the remaining British military presence there gave way to the Peoples' Liberation Army of China at the very moment sovereignty was transferred.
There is only one political presence here, evidenced by the Irish Defence Forces, and such an event of national identity should always have been, and should be in the future, commemorated with full military honours.
- Yours, etc,
DANIEL D LAWRENCE, Sweetmount Park, Dundrum, Dublin 14.
Madam, - I was quite taken aback to find an extra 10 cent on the price of The Irish Times last week. This increase seemed to happen very suddenly and without warning - maybe I missed an announcement. However, my ardour cooled very quickly on receiving your very excellent special supplement to mark the Rising's 90th anniversary.
Congratulations and thanks to all concerned, and for all your superb supplements every week.
- Yours, etc,
URSULA HOUGH-GORMLEY, Ormond Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6.