UCD professor of modern history, Ronan Fanning called for a “shameless celebration” of the Easter Rising centenary. 1916 relatives would, at this late stage, settle for a mere celebration.

As we near the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, it is obvious the Government has abandoned ownership of the most seminal event in Irish history.

I am loath to get into historical disagreement with a learned professor like Ronan Fanning, but his description of the Home Rule Act, giving self-rule to the island of Ireland, as merely “a fudged compromise” and an illusion, has to be challenged [Opinion, August 16].

Fatal Path: British Government and Irish Revolution 1910-1922

IT WAS the kind of funeral Terry Keane would have approved of. An elegant church in leafy south Dublin, ladies with perfectly co-ordinated handbag and shoes, wonderfully refined music and a celebrant who doubles as an expert on Caravaggio.

WHILE at the National Archives previewing the State papers, which were officially released yesterday, I happened to be sitting beside Prof Ronan Fanning when I came across a letter written to him by the Irish ambassador to the US in 1977.