A chara, In an otherwise excellent article on Irish neutrality (October 19th), in which Garret FitzGerald so rightly states that during the war "we were non combatant but not neutral", he undermines his authority by once more "having a go" at Sean MacBride. Dr. FitzGerald is on record as having been brought up to regard MacBride with deep hostility, and to regard his conversion to constitutionalism as "ambivalent".
He writes that MacBride "made the naive mistake of thinking that Britain and the US needed us so badly that our neighbour would hand over Northern Ireland against the will of a majority there, to secure our participation in NATO". This is too simplistic for a man of Dr. FitzGerald's calibre to write, MacBride was minister for External Affairs and did play a major role in the first Inter Party Government. But Fine Gael was the major party.
John Costello was Taoiseach. It was the latter who, on July 23rd, 1948, raised all expectations by stating in the Dail: "For the first time since 1922, this Cabinet will, by its policy and its actions, give some hope of bringing back to this country the six north eastern counties of Ulster".
To seek to make Sean MacBride the bogey man for decisions which Dr. FitzGerald disagrees with, is unfair and unacceptable. If he wishes to apportion blame. I suggest he might, look closer to his own political home. Yours, etc.,
Gilford Road,
Dublin 4.