Madam, - Ireland's patron saint, St Patrick, laid the foundation stone of our Christian values which include tolerance, forgiveness and respect for your neighbour. These values, not just rugby, will be put to the test at Croke Park next Saturday.
While it is a historic occasion to see an English rugby team at Croke Park, the tragedy of innocent civilians killed in Croke Park on "Bloody Sunday" 1920 may well still be part of the Irish psyche. However, we must awaken from the nightmare of history and move forward in the spirit that St Patrick would have wished. So let's listen to, but not sing, God Save the Queen. - Yours, etc,
JOE MURRAY, Pembroke Road, Dublin 4.
Madam, - Mary Raftery writes (Opinion, February 22nd) of the availability of the "English translation" of the national anthem on the website of the Department of the Taoiseach. In fact the anthem was written in English by Peadar Kearney in 1907. To make matters more ironic for those following this interesting debate, it was subsequently translated into Irish by Bulmer Hobson, a Co Down-bornQuaker.- Yours, etc,
DANIEL BENNETT, London E3.