A chara, - I was lately at a small social gathering at which the guests were asked to nominate their choice for our new President. This set me thinking. Clearly what Ireland needs is reconciliation.
Just as was needed 200 years ago, in Wolfe Tone's day, we need to substitute for "Catholic, Protestant, Dissenter, the common name of Irishman". Could a new President help this? If we could find a nominee who was equally welcome by the Catholics of Maynooth and the Orangemen of Belfast, it might help.
It is well known that when the Prince of Wales was recently the guest of honour at a banquet in Dublin, he was welcomed with enthusiasm by the elite of the Republic. Does anyone doubt that he would get an equally enthusiastic "cead mile failte" from the Orangemen of Belfast? Is there any other public figure in these islands of whom this could be said? Let us ask the Prince of Wales to be our next President.
I am an Irish Republican. It is in the family tradition. In 1910, my father left the US to return to Ireland and help Arthur Griffith found Sinn Fein. Three years later, he called a meeting of "the most sincere nationalists of my acquaintance in Dublin" to Wynn's Hotel to found the Irish Volunteers. Three years after that, he was killed leading his men in an assault on a British barricade outside the GPO.
I played a minor part, as a messenger before the 1916 Rising. Six years later, I was on active service for 10 months during the Civil War. I am still a Republican. - Is mise,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.