How the 1916 rebels got a retrospective mandate

ROBIN BURY of the Reform Movement states (Irish Examiner letters, November 8) that “1916 was not mandated”.

Of course, but what was mandated in those days? Democracy did not exist. Women had no votes.

Who “mandated” British imperialism? When did the unfortunate English people “mandate” the ruling junta in London to engage in worldwide imperialism, the holocaust of centuries against subject races and the establishment of an empire on which the sun never set.