Sir, - Eoin Neeson (The Irish Times, July 6th), replying to Tom Garvin's feature of May 18th, denied that the destruction of the public records in 1922 was a malicious republican act.
Irrespective of whether the responsibility lay with those fired on, or with those who shelled the Four Courts, the cultural consequences were enormous. Historians, researchers, authors, archivists and people tracing their families' stories were deprived of priceless records.
The Irish people are owed an apology for that ignoble episode in our history. We don't mind which side it comes from. Perhaps the political parties which originated from the Civil War factions should now unite in offering a formal apology to the Irish nation. - Yours, etc.
Anthony P. Quinn, Law Library, Dublin 7.