Sir,—Please allow me to congratulate your contributor Ian S. Wood, ‘Brian Nelson—the rise and fall of a double agent’ (HI 31.2, March/April 2023), for managing to write a four-page article on an aspect of the recent Troubles in the six counties without once mentioning the word ‘Protestant’. But then, why would he, when the whole … Read more
Sir,—I was very disappointed with Joe Culley’s ‘review’ of Paul Galvin’s book Threads (HI 31.1, Jan./Feb. 2023, Bookworm). By his own admission Mr Culley abandoned the book after three of the nineteen chapters, which is fair enough if it wasn’t to his liking. But would such a fleeting encounter with a publication qualify as sufficient … Read more
A chara,—The erudite, normally precise Joe Connell, in the course of his article on the execution of four anti-Treaty IRA leaders (HI 31.1, Jan./Feb. 2023, 100 Years Ago), states that the killing of TD Seán Hales (Cork) and the wounding of Leas Ceann Comhairle Padraic Ó Máille (Mayo) took place ‘outside the Dáil’, which is … Read more
Sir,—Gerry McAlister (HI 31.2, March/April 2023, Letters), regarding the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and the RIC, states that: ‘The role of the RIC acting on behalf of the colonial government was no different to that of the RCMP’. There may be parallels but there are also significant differences. When the RIC existed the RCMP … Read more
Sir,—Míle buíochas to David Prendergast for his excellent summation (HI 31.2, March/April 2023) of the events surrounding the arguably unnecessary April 1923 death of Volunteer Tom Keating. Along with other West Waterford families (Mooney, Mansfield, Fraher and the Cullinane ‘rebel sisters’), the Keatings were among the most active and suffered grievously during the revolutionary period … Read more