Sir, —Contrary to your editorial (HI 16.1, Jan./Feb. 2008), the case ofthe Pearson killings was not a ‘truly hidden history’. Among otheraccounts, local historian Paddy Heaney detailed the killings in hisbook At the foot of the Slieve Bloom: history and folklore ofCadamstown, published in 2000. As Brian Hanley argues in his review,the evidence suggests that … Read more
Sir, —In relation to the debate over Hidden History’s Coolacreasedocumentary, Brian Hanley (HI 16.1, Jan./Feb. 2008) says that ‘weshould accept the fact that there was undoubtedly an element ofsectarian conflict during the [Irish] revolution and that some peoplewere targeted for sectarian reasons’. But surely historians should onlyaccept as fact what is demonstrated as fact? If … Read more
A chara, —Further to Padraig Ó Snodaigh’s letter (HI 16.2, March/April2008) in response to Michael Gibbons’s review of Dublin Nazi No. 1: thelife of Adolf Mahr (HI 15.5, Sept./Oct. 2007), staff in the NationalMuseum may have regarded Mahr with respect as a scholar and scientistbut members of the security services would have another angle on … Read more
Sir, —I am currently undertaking research for a Ph.D at Queen’sUniversity, Belfast, on the 10th (Irish) Division in the Great War.Drawing its recruits from all sectors of the Irish population, northand south, Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter, and from every one ofthe four provinces, the division was the first and least well known ofthe three divisions … Read more
Sir, —In response to my necessarily brief article on the EucharisticCongress (HI 15.6, Nov./Dec. 2007), Anthony Jordan (letters, HI 16.1,Jan./Feb. 2008) remarks on my neglect in not mentioning the Cumann nanGaedheal government, led by W. T. Cosgrave, which, in Mr Jordan’swords, ‘did much of the long-term planning for the Congress’. TheEucharistic Congress was in fact … Read more