Sir - The State funerals of the 10 executed Irish volunteers has reopened a debate on the commemoration of those who gave their lives during the War of Independence and the Civil War. It should be remembered that these were men of their time and that vastly different circumstances existed in the early 1920s.
One of the by-products of the Northern Ireland conflict has been the reluctance of successive Irish governments to undertake any meaningful celebration or commemoration of the events that led to the formation of the State.
The people of this country could take a lead from the British in this regard. They, to their credit, lead the world in the honouring of the dead of two World Wars. The poppy has become the symbol of their commemoration. Revisionists have succeeded in making the Irish people ashamed of the events of the 1920s because it was a violent period of our history, but people of all political persuasion should be proud to wear the Easter Lily without the symbolism which associates it with the recent terrorist campaign in the North.
Maybe the Government could take the lead in this in the spring of 2002. - Yours, etc.,
M. Foran, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.