Letter: Ireland's constitutional claims
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: In Saturday's edition (Letters, 27 March), Ivor Stanbrook stated that 'Irish people could strike a real blow for peace by depriving the IRA of all moral and legal justification for its violence, simply by removing Articles 2 and 3 from the Irish constitution'.
This is probably the first time the IRA have ever been accused of being constitutionally minded. If the IRA get any moral and legal justification for their activities at all, surely it comes from the litany of real or perceived injustices that have littered the history of our two islands and not the constitution of a state the IRA do not actually recognise.
It is possible to share an aspiration without sanctioning methods used by those working for a similar end: both the police and vigilantes seek to end crime, but the police would not condone the activities of vigilantes. It may interest Mr Stanbrook that there was no more zealous prosecutor of the IRA than the author of Articles 2 and 3, De Valera, a poacher-turned-gamekeeper par excellence.
Personally I would support the removal of Articles 2 and 3 from the Irish constitution, if only because it might encourage Mr Stanbrook to develop a less superficial analysis of the Northern Ireland problem.
Yours etc,
CIARAN MEADE
Tunbridge Wells,
Kent
28 March
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments