Madam, - I can only thank Kevin Myers for articulating the simmering anger that has been rising in me with every hypocritical utterance from Sinn Féin/IRA (An Irishman's Diary, September 5th).
That anger reached its height over the last week with the accidental discovery of the pitiful remains of Mrs Jean McConville. The quiet, resigned dignity of the McConville family and the families of the other so-called "disappeared" stands in deep contrast to the weasel words of Sinn Féin/IRA.
The recent commemoration of a Nazi collaborator should be condemned by all democrats. I am astounded that there is no outcry. If any other party or person celebrated a Nazi collaborator they would surely be condemned to the hilt. Do Sinn Féin/IRA get to play by different rules?
Why are we, as democrats, not outraged by these threats to Irish democracy? Is it because we are trying to bring the "republican movement" in from the cold and criticism is muted because we don't want to scare the IRA back into action?
It annoys me greatly to see that they are allowed to portray themselves as peacemakers simply because they have stopped killing people. And even that assumption does not hold up to scrutiny! - Yours, etc.,
SIMON McDONNELL, Dundrum, Dublin 14.
Madam, - As a reader of your paper I have become accustomed to Kevin Myers's frequent outbursts, but I am moved to write after the Diary in which he poured scorn on Sinn Féin.
On the subject of Sean Russell, his grasp of history seems to be slightly out of kilter as Russell sought to enlist German (ie. Evil Nazi etc.) aid because desperate situations call for desperate measures.
Thus it was in an attempt to free Ireland, and in her interest, that Russell formed the alliance with Germany to remove British interference from this country.
To describe him as a quisling is an insult to his memory and also to the memory of everybody else who fought against injustice throughout the world. - Is mise,
KEVIN O'HARA, Coilleach, An Spidéal, Co na Gaillimhe