Sir, - The letter from John Clarke (September 8th) in regard to the murder of Sgt Henry Cronin in Tullamore in 1920 has been brought to my attention by a good friend and requires a response from me as a grandson of the slain policeman and nephew of Archbishop Cronin.
I trust I will be excused, not being a native of Ireland, for having less than a complete appreciation of the political conditions which prevailed in Ireland in October 1920 and of whether, at that stage, the IRA campaign and the means they employed should be regarded as a "just war". I nevertheless wonder whether your correspondent may have reconsidered the wisdom of attempting to condone the gunning down of Sgt Cronin and to speculate on the possible justification for such action if he had seen the tortured countenance and felt the profound sadness of my father as he related the circumstances of his own father's death in his mother's arms which he witnessed as a young boy on the doorstep of their home. The horror of this incident, I know, remained with him throughout his life and probably those of his brother, the archbishop, their mother and sisters.
In a civilised and God-fearing society, a cruel and cowardly assassination was and must remain simply that and is not an action in which the perpetrators or their descendants should take any pride. - Yours, etc.,
P.H. Cronin, Johannesburg, South Africa.