IRISH republicans have always maintained that the partition of Ireland in 1921, was a serious mistake.

But what was the alternative? Two years' of bloody conflict in Ireland between the Irish Republican Army and the British Army, supported by the Irish police, had cost over 4,000 military and civilian lives.

Dublin 'under martial law' with its sandbags and bombed-out buildings, resembled a war zone. Between 1920-21 Britain had 65,000 troops billeted in Ireland; more than in India.

Faced with a post-war economic and industrial slump, rising unemployment, and growing industrial unrest at home, Britain could not afford to maintain such a large military garrison in Ireland indefinitely.

While a complete withdrawal from the 32 counties would certainly have led to civil war between the IRA and the Ulster Volunteer Force, perhaps costing tens of thousands of lives, now in 1997, we are still no nearer finding an answer to the long-standing 'Irish question' - is there one?

JOHN PORTER, Thwaites Road, Oswaldtwistle.

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