Sir, —In the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue Patrick Maume, in his letter regardingnationalist attitudes to golf, noted: ‘Arthur Clery, who wrote for D.P. Moran’s Leader under the pen-name “Chanel”, devoted considerablecasuistic energy to arguing that tennis and even rugby might betolerated by Gaels . . .’. Not quite so here in Galway City, it seems,because in … Read more
Sir, —In the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue, on page 12, I noticed some remarks onSt Francis of Assisi that are not quite accurate. It is often said thathis baptismal name was Giovanni, which is correct, and his family nameBernardone. In fact he was Giovanni di Pietro (John, son of Peter), andhis paternal grandfather was Bernardoni. Francis … Read more
Sir, —With reference to the article in the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue, ‘Seán South of Garryowen’, I noticed a number of inaccuracies. RUC Sergeant Kenneth Cordner was armed with a Bren light machine-gun,which he received on the day of the raid, not a Sten gun as stated. The article also stated that all twelve volunteers refused … Read more
Sir, —I would like to compliment Matthew Kelly for his excellent article‘. . . and William Rooney spoke in Irish’ in the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue.Rooney is indeed an important figure who is rarely considered, and thearticle does him great justice. While Rooney’s commitment to theemerging nationalism of the late 1890s until his 1901 death wasrelatively … Read more
An end to foolishness ‘. . . there is an end to foolishness; the time for talk is ended’—not a cynical comment on the current (seemingly never-ending) negotiations to form a Northern Ireland executive but, as Kevin Haddick Flynn relates in this issue, the last words penned by Seán South 50 years ago before he … Read more