We cannot depend on neighbours to protect our nation from attack

Seán O’Riordan’s articles on providing a national air defence system are timely.

We are responsible for our own defence, and those whom we would presume to do our duty for us could be forgiven if they treated us with contempt.

As Michael Collins said: “those who succeeded to the teachings of Davis saw ... that the nation could only be preserved and freedom won by the Irish people themselves”. That is a principle which the people of Ireland expressed in Constitutional stipulations on national defence.