Sir, - Your radio reviewer, Harry Browne, writing about the RTE Radio 1 documentary The Twelfth Apostle? (Weekend, February 12th), said it was remarkably thin on "critical observation" and inferred that this was because I was a friend of the subject, Martin Lavan, and the producer, Ronan Kelly, was a distant relative. However, I can assure him that our relationships to Lavan in no way compromised our journalistic standards and that the documentary fulfilled its objective by presenting Lavan to the listeners, warts and all, allowing them to make their own critical observations.
I find nothing "glib" in the description of Lavan as a "die-hard rebel [not "revolutionary" as misquoted] indispensable to revolution, only to become an impediment to the resolution of conflict which requires compromise." I think this was particularly valid in the context of the Civil War in which it was placed. Harry found it an "ill fit" in the context of Lavan waving his gun around outside Mass in Kiltimagh and the rich old lawyer pulling political strings in Michigan and lavishly tipping the Dublin bellboys. But even in this context haven't we had ample proof in Ireland of die-hard rebels supporting the gun, acting the godfather and milking the system? - Yours, etc.,
Brendan O'Reilly, Moyne Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.