Madam, - This Easter I will enjoy the opportunity to walk with my family along a route that so many of our predecessors once trod - many to great renown - to celebrate one of the highlights of Irish heritage and history. I speak of Tara, of course.
I will avoid participating in the Taoiseach's great debate about "what it means to be Irish". I will not take part in any parades to commemorate the Rising, despite having a paternal grandfather who was in the GPO on that famous Easter. Instead, we will take in the clean air and fine views afforded (for now) by the Hill of Tara.
While I am comfortable with the history that surrounds the Rising, I am not equally comfortable with the current Government's attempts to capitalise on it for political gain. Against the backdrop of its repeated and often successful attempts to corrupt, bury and destroy our heritage time and time again, Mr Ahern's words are as hollow as the Millennium Spire. - Yours, etc,
DECLAN KENNY, Black Lodge Mill Lane, Leixlip, Co Kildare.