A chara, - As a relative of the late Eoin O'Duffy, I am amused by Gregory Allen's efforts to defend the General against the "calumny" that he had a liaison with Micheal Mac Liammoir (October 29th). O'Duffy may have been all the things Allen claims: a good Police Commissioner and soldier, a defender of his men and of the concept of manliness (whatever that is) - and a homosexual at the same time. To consider such a possibility a slur on O'Duffy's reputation is to do him no favours, merely to reveal one's own prejudices about homosexuality.
I personally am more perturbed by O'Duffy's choice of political allies than sexual partners. He damaged his own reputation by joining Franco in the war to install fascism in Spain. This is a historically significant and lamentable fact. His sexual orientation is neither. - Yours, etc.,
Molly O'Duffy, Temple Cottages, Broadstone, Dublin 7.