Thurs 8 April 2021
Sir,
In his letter to your paper (‘United Ireland?’ 8 April 2021), Noel McDermott states “The test for whether or not a united Ireland is possible must be that the various communities of Northern Ireland can co-exist together without rancour”.
Article 1.1 of the Good Friday Agreement states that both governments must “recognise the legitimacy of whatever choice is freely expressed by a majority [my italics] of the people of Northern Ireland with regard to its status, whether they prefer to continue to support the Union with Great Britain or a sovereign united Ireland.”
Is Mr McDermott saying that the terms of the international agreement have changed?
Yours etc
Jude Collins
*****
Mon 12 April
Sir,
Felix Larkin (‘Remembering the 1916 Rising’, Letters, 12 April 2021) is anxious to move the annual commemoration of the 1916 Rising away from Easter and on to its calendar date -April 24 – because “ like Christ’s death and resurrection, the blood sacrifice of the rebels” is seen as a parallel to “ the redemption and resurrection of the Irish nation.” Mr Larkin believes it’s better for the Irish people “to free ourselves from such mythologizing.”
But wasn’t it precisely the sacrifice of their lives by the signatories that galvanised Irish people into insurrection? The myth of death and resurrection is an old one, granted, but in Ireland’s case the myth is matched by the actions of those few who made possible the freedom he enjoys today.
Or perhaps he believes that if Pearse, Clarke and the others had stayed at home that Easter, we’d all be better off?
Yours etc
Jude Collins
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