Madam, – As a British resident of Ireland, I would prefer it if my head of state did not visit this country if she is going to be received with the ungracious and ungenerous attitude displayed by your correspondents. So much for Ireland of the Welcomes! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Michael McLoughlin (April 20th) is correct: Sinn Féin won under 47 per cent of the Irish votes cast in the 1918 general election.
However, this is a more misleading figure than the “over 70 per cent” claimed by Dermot Sweeney, and for which he is taken to task by Mr McLoughlin. In 25 of the seats where Sinn Féin were successful there was no contest. Why? Because their Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) opponents felt they had no chance of success such was the surge in support for Sinn Féin.
If this factor is taken into account the real level of support for Sinn Féin was closer to Mr Sweeney’s 70 per cent (or even higher). But this was not necessarily the landslide it seemed. The limited autonomy provided for by Home Rule had been consistently over-sold as something more by Parnell and subsequent IPP leaders which is why nationalist opinion supported it and, indeed, unionist opinion opposed it so vehemently. It is still being over-sold in your columns (Stephen Collins, Opinion, April 16th).
In fact the 1912 Home Rule Bill fell short of the limited self-determination actually provided for in the Treaty of 1921 and well short of the sovereignty we enjoy today (in spite of the IMF and ECB!). – Yours, etc,