Madam, - Gerry Moriarty's article in your edition of August 27th on the events of the same date in 1979 moved me to tears. The courage and compassion of John Maxwell and his family can only be admired.
However, I also feel a certain sympathy for Thomas McMahon. Few people today can see anything heroic in the callous murder of young and old at Mullaghmore, or indeed of 18 young men at Warrenpoint. Yet Thomas McMahon's name is the only one associated with this horrific atrocity. Who, I ask, were his superiors who ordered and directed these events?
It makes me shudder to think that any of them might be involved in the political process, enjoying the self-gratification that Sinn Féin assume when they lay claim to be the orchestrators of the peace process. - Yours, etc.,
DAVID GRIFFIN, Banbridge, Co Down.