David McManus on a history of splits and name changes from 1905 to 1986
Your report (‘Not if … but when’: Sinn Féin on path to power in Ireland, 28 December) refers to Sinn Féin as a party “founded in 1905”; this unfortunately omits important context in understanding modern Irish politics.
The Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 was negotiated and supported by the British government and an Irish delegation led by Arthur Griffith, the founder of the original Sinn Féin party of 1905. Following intense debate, the treaty was passed in the Irish parliament (Dáil Éireann) in January 1922 to establish the Irish Free State.
