Much as I cherish the tablet, I read your editorial (“Ireland must not be distracted by old feuds”, 2 April) with irritation. Ambiguities bedevil any human action and the Easter 1916 Rising had its fair share but it’s disingenuous to say that it raises issues concerning democracy and the rule of law. A democratic mandate may be the privilege of twenty-first century British folk in deciding by referendum whether their country should stay in or leave the European Union. No process was available for the Irish in the early twentieth century to assess whether Ireland should stay in or leave the United Kingdom.