Sir, – Thanks to Peter Murtagh for a fitting tribute to Thomas Ashe ("Thomas Ashe's motorbike helped achieve notable 1916 victory", April 30th). As Murtagh states, the memory of Thomas Ashe has not proved as durable as that of other leaders of the Rising.
May I add briefly that the speech Ashe made on the hill of Ballinalee which led to his arrest for sedition was made in the company of Michael Collins.
Both men were under watch by the RIC despite their earlier amnesty. The parish hall in Ballinalee was erected to the memory of Ashe whose inspiration lived on for the men of the north Longford flying column under the command of general Seán MacEoin.
His ultimate sacrifice as a consequence of his maltreatment in prison is remembered in the name of our village hall.
– Yours, etc,
DECLAN GORMAN
Wooddown,
Mullingar.