Sir, – Wesley Boyd's comment that the Rising failed to attract "the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman" is correct ("Commemoration's link with IRA being ignored", Opinion & Analysis, March 31st). Equally, the subsequent Stormont government failed to attract the allegiance of every Ulsterman and Ulsterwoman. One may agree or disagree on which was more successful in attracting allegiance.
But his comment that children “have been sprinkled with the blood of the Proclamation at events in schools throughout the country” is beneath contempt. – Yours, etc,
PETER McCARTHY,
Blessington, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – I wish to compliment Wesley Boyd on his article relating to the legacy of 1916.
The Easter 2016 commemoration gave our politicians, academics and the media, as well as the public, an opportunity to have a serious discussion on the issue of blood sacrifice in order to reshape our conception of the Easter Rising. It was not grasped. Instead we have anointed the 1916 Rising with all its bloodletting as an event that should be commemorated and celebrated because it gave rise to Irish freedom. Not to mention all the bloodletting since. – Yours, etc,
PADDY CORLEY,
Ennis, Co Clare.
Sir, – Unlike John McManus, I am spared having to scan the writings of right-wing British journalists seeking to make idiotic comparisons between the Rising and the activities of Isis ("Is it valid to compare 1916 rebels to Islamic State?", Opinion & Analysis, March 31st).
In 1916, Britain was itself actively engaged in selling the idea of blood sacrifice to countless thousands of their (and our) youngest and finest as they were marched into the maws of modern warfare by stupid generals in pursuit of empire. Just wait until those same newspapers come to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme in a few months, when we will be swamped by accounts of heroic sacrifice by those who, mostly, weren’t given very much choice. – Yours, etc,
RORY E MacFLYNN,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.