Sir, - I doubt very much whether any of the "other facts" contained in Rory Masterson's letter were new to Kevin Myers or suppressed by him in his own comments on the Easter Rising because they undermined his views. Dr Masterson merely sets out the reasons for the frustration that Irish republicans experienced when, after a century of playing by British rules, the rules suddenly changed to accommodate the Unionists of the North.
The question is really whether this frustration was enough to justify killing people. Given that killing people was the only thing actually achieved by the Rising and the War for Independence sparked by the inept British response to it (a 26-county Catholic Bantustan was the Unionist "opening" offer in 1914, and a nominal oath to the King the only "real" constraint on Irish freedom proposed by the British -- both of which were "achieved", and in fact delayed by the War), Mr Myers's conclusion that the killing was not justified is hardly disproved by reminding us that the frustration was. - Yours, etc., William Hunt,
Harold's Cross, Dublin 6. Cross Words