Madam, - Permit me through your columns to point to the invalidity of a document purporting to be a valid one, namely the census form of 2006 which declares itself to be a "Census of population of Ireland".
This is a false declaration as six of Ireland's 32 counties, covering approximately 6,000 square miles of her 32,000 square mile territory are being excluded in the census. These are counties Antrim, Derry, Down, Armagh, Fermanagh and Tyrone.
For the census to be valid and acceptable as such by this writer, the form must be identified for what it is, a census of 26 counties only. How this is done is a matter for the State census authority, the CSO.
There are three titles of choice, all of which clearly identify the State and have been applied to it at one time or other since the imposition of partition. These are (1) The Irish Free State; (2) The 26 Counties; (3) The Republic of Ireland, per 1949.
With the changes that have been made to Articles 2 and 3 of the 1937 Constitution, relinquishing all claims to approximately 6,000 square miles of Ireland's territory, the time is here when the State cannot and must not, anywhere or at any time, promote or identify itself by the unitary name of Ireland. If ever such entitlement existed, which I believe did not, it is no longer a tenable position.
My refusal to complete the census for 2002 and for which I was imprisoned for two weeks was based on my argument that the census form be properly identified. My position remains unchanged. As for census 2006 there is an onus on all of us to question the validity of this questionable questionnaire. - Yours, etc,
DECLAN CURNEEN, Aghamore, Largydonnell, Co Leitrim.