Madam, – Following on from my letter (April 29th), in which I said I would be observing a total news blackout for the period covering “that wedding”, adding that I looked forward to things getting back to normal “for a while at least”, I am afraid that the “while” is about to come to an end from Tuesday next and for a few days thereafter.
Fortunately, I will not have recourse to another blackout as I will, happily, be out of the country for the duration. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I can’t help noticing that there seems to be plenty of people willing to protest against a little old lady visiting Ireland. Where were all these brave protesters when our money was being hoovered into bank-shaped black holes? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Those who feel aggrieved at the perceived harsh treatment meted out to us by the EU, the ECB, the IMF and whoever else, might take heart from a speech delivered by John Redmond MP at the Eighty Club in 1912: “Ireland is like the man who fell among thieves, and who was robbed and beaten and left unconscious on the roadside. But the services of the Good Samaritan, in the shape of a kindlier feeling and a better understanding on the part of England, have had their influence and we are grateful”.
Sounds familiar. However, in light of the fact that 2012 marks the centenary of the introduction of the third Home Rule Bill in the House of Commons, and also that Britain magnanimously came to our aid in recent times, is it time to re-evaluate, albeit through a European lens, our relationship with the old enemy? The divil you know . . . and all that. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I disagree with Derek Reid’s assertion (May 3rd) that Sinn Féin “set up an illegal parliament, the first Dáil” in January 1919. To my mind, the constitutional basis of an independent Irish State was both legitimate and legal.
Because Sinn Féin won most of the seats in the December 1918 elections, it had a mandate to fulfil its campaign pledges: to abstain from Westminster and to set up a constituent assembly. The first Dáil was therefore certainly legitimate.
Moreover, it was legal in the minimum sense that people, let alone MPs, had the common law right to assemble. Of course, gatherings could be prohibited under draconian security regulations adopted during a war that was now over and the Dáil was indeed banned in this way, but not until September 1919.
The legality of the ban was dubious on account of its outdated basis and it had no moral validity (legitimacy) because the Dáil had from the start rejected British government in Ireland.
It did so as the legitimate and legal embodiment of the sovereignty of the Irish people. – Yours, etc,
