A chara,
—Joost Augusteijn (Letters, HI 17.4, July/Aug. 2009) states that the Sinn Féin manifesto in the 1918 general election ‘did not call for a republic’. Not so. The relevant passage in the manifesto reads:
‘Sinn Féin gives Ireland the opportunity of vindicating her honour and pursuing with renewed confidence the path of national salvation by rallying to the flag of the Irish Republic. Sinn Féin aims at securing the establishment of that Republic.’
Even those relying on the British-censored version of the manifesto that appeared in the newspapers could not have missed the point because the last sentence of that passage was not censored.
—Is mise,
MÍCHEÁL MAC DONNCHA
Sinn Féin
Teach Laighean
Sir,
—Joost Augusteijn asks what the Irish electorate were or were not voting for in 1918. I would submit that the phrase ‘sinn féin’ was sufficient and comprehensively understood.
—Is mise,
NICHOLAS FURLONG
Wexford