Pearse the rebel was once a democrat who had been betrayed

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

This statement is rendered meaningless by isolating it from the political and constitutional context in which the Easter Rising took place.

It conceals the crucial fact that Patrick Pearse and most of his colleagues were committed to the democratic process in the years immediately prior to the 1916.