A chara, - I refer to the article on Fianna Fáil by Stephen Collins in your supplement on the 1916 Rising of Tuesday (The Irish Times, March 29th).
In his article on Fianna Fáil, Stephen Collins makes two statements which are factually incorrect. Firstly, he says that "the Treaty was endorsed by the electorate in June 1922".
To describe this election as being in some way a referendum on the Treaty is to totally misrepresent the facts as it is clear that if it had not been for the intervention of the smaller parties and Independents, the clear intention of Sinn Féin was that its candidates would not compete against each other on a pro and anti-treaty basis. The facts are as follows:
A general election was held on May 24th, 1921. The policy of Sinn Féin at the time was to put up a panel in each constituency of Sinn Féin candidates. The number of candidates put up by Sinn Féin represented exactly the number of seats in the Dáil, excluding the Dublin University seats, i.e. 124. All the Sinn Féin candidates were returned unopposed as no other parties contested the election.
In the General Election of June 16th, 1922, the same pattern was repeated in the so-called "Pact Election". Again, the number of Sinn Féin candidates matched the number of seats (excluding Dublin University). The only constituencies in which an election actually took place were those where parties other than Sinn Féin, both pro- and anti-treaty contested.
In six constituencies no election took place as there were no non-Sinn Féin candidates. The other parties who contested this election were Labour, Farmers Party and Independents.
Details of this election are available in the excellent volume Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1918-1992.
The second incorrect statement Mr Collins makes is that "a year later, Fianna Fáil entered the Dáil and, under protest, took the hated oath".
To believe that Fianna Fáil took the oath means that you believe that a person can take an oath without taking the Bible in their hand and swearing by almighty God to uphold some matter.
It is well recorded that the Republicans entered the Dáil without taking an oath, and simply signed a book in which the words of the oath were written. They neither took the Bible in their hand, nor took an oath.
In the interest of historical accuracy, I hope that you will print this letter. - Is mise,
ÉAMON Ó CUÍV TD, Minister for Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs, Galway.