The UK union with the EU was not voluntary, because Europe had changed so much from the Common Market which Britain joined

Re Mary Russell’s response (‘The UK leaving the EU and Ireland leaving the UK were not the same thing,’ Jan 27) to my letter (‘Nationalist dual take on independence,’ January 26), made a couple of assertions which do not stand up to scrutiny.

It is incorrect to claim the union with the EU was a voluntary choice. The UK entered the Common Market, unique in character and purpose from the European Union today.

Furthermore, it is curious for Ms Russell to lament Ireland’s inability to have its own fiscal policy within the British Empire when membership of the euro means forsaking its own monetary policy.

Ms Russell claims Sinn Fein won a mandate at the 1918 election for Ireland to become an independent republic. This is undoubtedly true, yet, it is also true that the victors of this election pursued a policy of aggression with no mandate in Easter 1916 for the same reason.

Ms Russell attempts to explain this away by invoking John F Kennedy yet she neglects to mention the inevitability of Home Rule. This would have come into law with the assistance of the 1911 Parliament Act without the need for violence.

The only question was whether it was on a 32 county basis or two separate jurisdictions.

Finally, Ms Russell accuses the DUP for not accepting responsibility for their actions vis-à-vis Brexit.

If this is true, the party must be taking lessons from Sinn Fein who still, to this day, will not accept that murder in the name of Irish unity was an immoral course of action to take.

Adrian Lonergan, Belfast BT17

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