No dilemma over Easter Rising

John A Murphy, emeritus professor of Irish history at UCC, claims that the proponents of the 1916 Rising had no mandate from the general public to take up arms on their behalf.

Prof Murphy, who was speaking at a conference on the Irish Home Rule crisis 1912-1914 in University College Cork, referred to the “inescapable embarrassing dilemma” of 1916 and the cult of bloodshed.

May I remind Prof Murphy that it was British terror in Ireland that had no mandate, and revolutionaries by definition act first then seek a retrospective democratic mandate, which is what was given in the 1918 general election when Sinn Féin received a massive electoral endorsement, winning 75 of the 103 seats. British rule in Ireland was a product of conquest and therefore devoid of moral authority.