Sir, – I very much appreciated your excellent obituary on Gerry Foley last Saturday (May 5th), as I am sure many others did who knew this extremely acute observer of Irish politics, who was also a very decent and kindly individual.
However, I have to pick a bone with the paragraph that states “Foley took a keen interest in the evolution of the Official Republican movement, which had split away from the more militaristic Provisionals in December 1969 and espoused socialist ideals”. In fact it was the socialist-leaning leadership of the movement at that time that remained in situ, hence the title “Official” and the more militaristic “Provisionals” who broke away.
This is a small but important detail if we are to record and understand past events accurately. I welcome the development of Sinn Féin into a progressive party on the left in Ireland, North and South, but we should not forget its atavistic roots, which make its evolution all the more remarkable and also makes its retention of some aspects of its past legacy more comprehensible. – Yours, etc,