Sir, - In his Irishman's Diary (December 19th), Kevin Myers attempts to analyse why Irish society was "hysterical and dysfunctional" in 1798. However, he ignores the following salient information:
By the early 1700s, 27 per cent of the population of Ireland was Protestant, mainly of Scottish and English descent. The proportion of land owned by the rest of the population, Catholic and mainly Gaelic speaking, had been reduced to 5 per cent.
Penal laws debarred Catholics from politics and the professions, while the Gaelic language was rendered redundant.
The great majority of Gaelic-speaking Catholics were at the mercy of their Protestant landlords and were described by foreign travellers as the most destitute people in Europe. In the following century their language was virtually eradicated and they suffered population decline through famine and emigration on a catastrophic scale.
Throughout this period Ireland was forcibly subjected to British imperial rule and all attempts at self rule, such as the revolt of 1798, were crushed.
When Mr Myers next attempts an analysis of the state of Ireland in 1798, or indeed at any time between 1600 and 1921, he should pay less attention to happenings in mainland Europe, such as France, and more to events closer to home. - Yours, etc.,
From David Patrick Moane
North Great George's Street, Dublin 1.