Sir, - It has been said that Ireland was the inspiration for India's independence movement led by Gandhi in the middle years of the 20th century, and Padraig O Cuanachain would appear to go along with that theory, citing Terence McSwiney as a catalyst (An Irishman's Diary, October 30th). Coincidentally, I had just formed an identical opinion, but using another patriot as a basis for my hypothesis.
I have just returned from a very interesting trip to the west of Ireland, to a place which, would you believe, is not even marked on an Ordnance Survey map, but which has an extremely important place in Irish history - the village of Straide, Co Mayo.
Straide, as mentioned in Lorna Siggins's article (October 30th), is the birthplace of Michael Davitt, founder of the Land League; the reason I was invited to this picturesque and tiny village was the official opening of the Michael Davitt Museum, in the very church where he was christened in 1846. This is not to say that, up until now, the people of Straide had forgotten its son - far from it, a museum had been in situ in a room off the Community Centre for some years, but it was a makeshift affair, complete with an incurably leaky roof.
So it was time for a bit of Feng Shui! The old Penal Church, attached to the ancient abbey, and by now a totally derelict shell, was donated by a very generous and far-sighted bishop - Bishop Thomas Flynn of Achonry - and, early this year, work began on transforming this forsaken edifice into a place worthy of the man who had made such an impact on Irish - and perhaps world - history. Truly, nothing short of a miracle has been performed by the trustees of the museum, and the result is there for all to see - a bright, airy exhibition hall with a wealth of information inside for any Davittophiles, and quite an eye-opener for those of us, myself included, who perhaps didn't pay as much attention as we should have done during history class.
And did Davitt's influence actually go far beyond these shores? I think so - with his ideals of passive resistance, where the greed and avarice of landlords was met, not by force, but by peaceful demonstration and ostracisation ("boycotting"), I believe it to be highly possible that the man who is most associated with such acts, Mahatma Gandhi, might have also taken Michael Davitt, Man of Straide, as a role model.
In these days of the Celtic Tiger, it is all too easy to forget the struggles of our forebears, and a visit to the Straide Museum, with its documentation of the horrors of Victorian times in Ireland, would turn out to be a very profound and chastening experience - a veritable tonic for the soul.
D K Henderson, Castle Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3.