The rebels who shook an empire

I MUST confess I was not one of the 0.2% of the population of Dublin that “bothered to celebrate” the 93rd anniversary of the Easter Rising in the capital (Niall Ginty, Letters, April 23).

On Easter Saturday evening, with some family and friends, I perhaps indulged in a celebratory toast too many as we commemorated the Easter Rising of 1916 and the brave women and men whose unselfish sacrifice ultimately brought about a sovereign republic. This resulted in a slight hangover on Easter Sunday, which happily disappeared within a few hours, unlike the post-colonial hangover which has been irritating Mr Ginty and his ilk for so long.

My personal attendance at the event was not too important as I, and indeed Mr Ginty, were both represented by our elected head of state, President Mary McAleese, who, with dignity and respect, paid due homage to the fine men and women who in 1916 asserted an indigenous national sovereignty in opposition to the world’s most powerful empire. This unselfish act not alone inspired the colonised people of Ireland to reject the empire, but inspired subjugated peoples across the world and hastened the end of the imperial and colonial age.