Sir, – Another year passes, and another birthday of Daniel O’Connell – August 6th – goes by unnoticed.
It is one of the great shames of this nation that our leader, our chieftain and our liberator has not, as yet, been properly venerated. His statue on his street in Dublin is there thanks to the people of the late 19th-century, who funded John Henry Foley’s terrific monument.
I venture to suggest the vast majority of Irish people now, who have passed by that great city bulk know next to nothing about the Liberator’s life. And yet, single-handedly it would seem, he raised a pacific nation from its slumber to stir the shackles of our occupiers’ “bondage” (Peter Paul MacSwiney).
We should have had the day off, and finally give the man the respect he deserves. – Yours, etc,
JODY MOYLAN,
Haddon Park,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.