14 JUNE 1997, Page 28

LETTERS Further penance

Sir: In return for one apology about a myth of 150 years ago, how about another con- cerning historical reality only 50 years ago? Having enjoyed the Prime Minister's con- trition over the Great Irish Famine, prompting Professor Bew's splendid analy- sis (`England's willing executioners?', 7 June), will Dublin now do penance for the Republic's neutrality throughout the last world war, which severely handicapped us in the vital Battle of the Atlantic and so delayed victory by a year or more? Presi- dent Robinson and successive Taoiseachs are justified in boasting that the Irish are good little Europeans. They had intensive training from 1939 to 1945.

Vivian Linacre

45 Montgomery Street, Edinburgh