Nation and State

Sir, – Chief Justice Mrs Justice Susan Denham is widely reported to have observed at the first sitting of the Supreme Court in Cork on March 3rd that it was timely to have such sittings outside Dublin "as the nation approaches the first centennial anniversary of its creation" ("Judicial history made as Supreme Court sits outside Dublin, March 3rd). People should be more precise in their use of terms like "nation" and "state". However you define it, the Irish nation existed long, long before the 1916 Rising. The Irish State came into existence on December 6th, 1922. – Yours, etc,

JOHN A MURPHY,

Emeritus Professor,

University College Cork.