Madam, - The promise in the 1916 Proclamation to cherish all the children of the nation equally is usually taken to refer literally to children and is frequently quoted by individuals and groups seeking better social provision for youngsters.
However, the subsequent clause which promises that the cherishing will be done "equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past" indicates that the signatories were thinking of the population as a whole, rather than about minors. - Yours, etc.,
DENIS FAHEY, Drumcondra, Dublin 9