Sir, – Your generous editorial tribute to Liam Cosgrave (October 6th) was remarkable given the attitude that he himself often took towards The Irish Times.
In 1969, he dismissed criticism from the paper by referring to its alleged "alien" heritage and by reminding supporters of The Irish Times's support for the suppression of the Easter Rising. In 1977, his ardfheis outbursts at "blow-ins", some of whom were "not even Irish", was also aimed in part at the reports about Garda brutality carried in your newspaper. Any assessment of Liam Cosgrave's life must also include a discussion of his willingness to indulge in such authoritarian populist rhetoric aimed at "aliens" and "blow-ins" and his government's record regarding civil liberties, censorship and the failure to pursue a real investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. – Yours, etc,
Dr BRIAN HANLEY,
Cabra, Dublin 7.