Sir, - I am afraid your London correspondent, Rachel Donnelly, is a bit behind the times. The newly-released PRO documents she cites on the British offer to end partition during the Second World War ("Britain offered unity if Ireland entered war," February 15th) have been available (in another file) for over 20 years.
The real news is that the Irish National Archives have recently released some really new documents on de Valera's talks with Malcolm MacDonald in July 1940. This documentation, together with details of the British offer, is reproduced in article by me in the next issue of History Ireland.
The fact that it is old news in no way detracts from the importance of the British offer to work for an end to partition in exchange for the ending of Irish neutrality in the war. That offer represented a unique opportunity to initiate a process leading to all-Ireland unity. De Valera's rejection of the offer was a historic turning-point - one that led to a hardening of the division and partition of the country. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Geoffrey Roberts, Statutory Lecturer in History, University College, Cork.