Why Home Rule would have been preferable

IN his letter (Irish Examiner, June 6), Nick Folley seems to have totally missed the point of my letter speculating that Home Rule might have been better than what ensued after 1916 (Irish Examiner, May 17).

However, such brushing aside of Home Rule is not unusual. Mr Folley says we would now be part of the war in Iraq, would have been bombed in World War II and have no say in foreign policy, etc. Those arguments are meaningless as I believe we would have achieved freedom like India and many other countries, and would have avoided all the bloodshed, civil war, partition, mass emigration and poverty.

Mr Folley also says the Allies considered invading Ireland during World War II, but it must be remembered that some Irish republicans played footsie with the Germans at the time.