On January 16 the Irish state marked the final act of the British colonial Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in handing over Dublin Castle – the seat of British administration and control – to the Provisional Government. This act was a follow-on from the signing of the Articles of Agreement on December 6 1921, an agreement between a delegation representing the government of the Irish Republic and the British government, accepted by the signatories under the threat of an immediate and bloody war on the Irish by the British occupation forces. The ‘Articles’ were promoted subsequently as an ‘Anglo-Irish Treaty’.
That agreement failed to deliver an independent Irish Republic as envisaged in the 1916 Proclamation, the 1919 Declaration of Independence, and the Democratic Programme of the revolutionary Dáil Éireann. But rather it reflected in its institutions the strategy of British imperialism to partition Ireland in order to secure and retain its economic, political and military interests and control over the people of Ireland. It was implemented by a brutal civil war against the defenders of the republic and the establishment of a Free State in which the native capitalist class collaborated with imperialism.
The signing of the ‘Treaty’ and the handover of Dublin Castle copper-fastened the betrayal of the struggle for national independence and sovereignty. The forces who accepted partition were happy to be subservient to the needs of imperialism in Ireland and remain so to this day.
The economic, political and sectarian land mines, planted by the British colonial power to undermine and thwart the national goal of an all-Ireland sovereign independent democratic state, continue to explode. Our people have experienced two failed economic, political and social British constructs in our country.
Both entities have blighted the lives of generations of our people since their establishment by force by the British and their colonial collaborators.
An estimated 1.5 million have been forced to emigrate. Our people have lived under the tyranny in the 26 counties of reactionary economic, social and moral policies while the people in the six counties have had to bear a century of institutionalised sectarianism, poverty, discrimination and repression.
Today people across Ireland are experiencing mass homelessness, exploitative rents, a life of uncertainty at work – a life which continues into a lack of proper provision in old age.
The great betrayal of a century ago continues to haunt the people of Ireland. The aspiration and goals contained in the 1916 Proclamation and the Democratic Programme remain unfulfilled.
PAUL DORAN
Dublin 22
Earth is on its final countdown
It is that time of year again when all the mega rich billionaires and millionaires are jostling to be top of the rich list as they try to impress the poor and the peasants of this dying world. The television loves to show us down and outs how they live to extremes with their rich lifestyles while we sit down to our pot noodles for Sunday lunch. However, one must remember that if you have a great lifestyle in this life you lose out the next time around. As the good book says, it is the stones the builder rejected (and us peasants are the stones) that are wanted to reap the reward, therefore the rich become the poor and the poor reap paradise. This earth is on its final countdown as one can see and since 2000. If one looks back to the twin towers of 2001 it was a sign to mankind of what was to come.
Since 2000 we have experienced many disasters and the majority of people agree that the situation is deteriorating – an example of this is the recent volcanic eruption in Tonga which lets us see the power of destruction beneath our feet. One wonders what would be the outcome if every volcano were to erupt simultaneously? How do you buy survival on a lava flowing earth?
The year 2022 is the year of the Tiger. Will its roar be heard throughout the world? The Covid pandemic has left its mark throughout the planet and science is always saying it has the answer.
Not this time, as this plague has them all beaten – how many jabs do we need? It will never die and we know it so we just have to carry on living as best we can in these difficult times.
ERROL WOOD
Belfast BT13
Accusations against pope should be treated with caution
There are reasons why the accusations against Pope Benedict XVI’s treatment of child abuse cases while he was Archbishop of Munich over 40 years ago should be treated with some caution (January 21).
As Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (which assumed central supervision of abuse cases in 2001) and as Pope from 2005, Benedict XVI was noted for taking a ‘rigorous’ approach to the problem.
His biographer Peter Seewald quotes the investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi as writing that Benedict’s “battle against abuse was more decisive and severe than that of his successor”. It seems unlikely that he would have been strict in his attitude as a cardinal and as pope but not as a diocesan archbishop.
As to the most recent accusations, at least one of which has been known about since 1986, the observation of the German Catholic daily the Tagespost needs to be kept in mind. That newspaper noted that the report has decisive points and it claimed that the conference at which the report was presented let robust facts “take a back seat to a morally-charged show”.
C ARMSTRONG
Belfast BT12
Unhelpful comments
If my reading of Mr Hennessey’s letter – ‘Provoking unionism makes it easier to be obstructive’ (January 10) – is correct, it is his view that the raison d’etre of Sinn Féin is to provoke unionists and cause their defensive behaviour. The ascription of malevolence to a political party is really unhelpful.
It might be useful if one revisits the principle underpinning of the Good Friday Agreement. An important concept there was the acceptance of the integrity of the position of political parties.
So maybe rather than impugning the motives of a political party, would it not be more constructive to ask why the republican analysis is so fiercely resisted by unionists?
It can be so easy to speak with those with whom we agree, yet as Archbishop Tutu reminds us, in the interests of reconciliation and problem solving we have to speak with those that we least want to speak with.
MANUS McDAID
Derry City
