Madam, - Martin Mansergh (Opinion, September 11th) writes that the Gladstone monument in the grounds of St Deiniol's Library in Hawarden had been "destined for a provincial Irish town".
In fact the monument is the result of the Gladstone National Memorial Fund's proposal in 1898 to commission three monuments, one each for London, Edinburgh and Dublin. Although Dublin Corporation opposed the proposal in 1898, the sculptor, John Hughes, proceeded with the commission. A last attempt to erect the sculpture in Dublin was made in 1924, when the Phoenix Park was suggested as an appropriate site.
The Government finally declined the offer and the monument passed instead to Hawarden, where one of the trustees suggested that if Dublin ever wanted the statue in the future, it should be handed over. - Yours, etc.,
PAULA MURPHY, Department of History of Art, UCD, Dublin 4.