Sir, – I may not have expressed myself as precisely as I meant to in my interview with Ronan McGreevy (Home News, August 18th). Regarding the death of one million Irish people in the Famine, I am not an expert in this field and simply do not know enough of the precise history to determine whether this was indeed a genocide. What it was, without any doubt, was a horrendous tragedy, one that could have been prevented had there been the will to aid the victims. Of that there is no doubt.
However, genocide as defined by the United Nations has a precise meaning and not all mass murders – horrendous though they may be – qualify as such.
I urge caution in the use of the term. – Yours, etc,