Irish eyes weren’t smiling

THE commemoration of events in Dublin in 1916 gave the impression that Irish people gave complete support to a small number of extremists who chose a time of war to confront the Crown, with German assistance. It’s a matter of record that the captured survivors were jeered at by local residents who regarded the massive loss of life of innocent people and property damage as an act of irresponsibility which would derail the pre-war, peaceful process towards Home Rule.

Countless thousands of Irishmen were already fighting in the Crown forces and this armed uprising was seen as a betrayal of their sacrifice. This attitude changed only when the ringleaders were executed.

Just a few years after these events, the fledgling Irish state engaged in a brutal civil war i n which former comrades callously ended the lives of those who disagreed with their particular brand of nationalism.

The current Irish president stated on TV that the Easter Rising gave birth to his nation, oblivious to the fact that it would have happened by peaceful means after the war had been won.

I only wish we had people in Westminster with sufficient backbone to risk ruffling feathers by stating the truth of these events, and not be taken in by the fanciful notions of spin merchants with vested interests.

Would Jeremy Corbyn and his Irish republican cronies care to explain why i n World War II more men volunteered per head of population from neutral Ireland than from any other nation? I rather think this speaks volumes.

CLIVE NELSON-SINGER,

Beare Green, Surrey. SOME years ago, I was in a lift in a Las Vegas hotel when one of the other people in there, on hearing my English accent, said to me: ‘Why don’t you get out of Ireland?’ I admit his manner scared me a bit.

He then said: ‘I suppose it’s not your fault’ — and he got out of the lift at the next floor. PHILIP BRANNON,

London SE25.