Madam, – There is at least one problem with John Waters’s contention that Dublin has always looked towards Britain and empire (Opinion, April 29th). Dublin, by and large, remained loyal to Parnell, before and after the split with the Redmondites, who would play such a prominent role in encouraging young men to go and fight for small nations. The 1916 rebellion can be seen as an expression of Parnellite disillusion: an act of exasperation at the failed Home Rule project; an assertion that nothing less than full independence will do. This leaves Dublin a more radical city than Mr Waters allows.
However, Mr Waters’s professed disaffection from the city in which he has chosen to live is disheartening; after all we did for him! – Yours, etc,