Sir, I feel obliged to congratulate you and Cyril Byrne for the magnificent photo of the Trinity Scholars at their annual dinner (June 11th). The photograph seems to get bigger and more colourful each year. But it is the composition that is most striking: squeezing so many honourable men and women into one photograph in such a way that everyone is readily identifiable. It is the stuff of university calendars, but not, I would have thought, of an eminent national newspaper.
So I also feel obliged to ask why the photograph appears regularly each year. Has it some educational or national significance? It seems to me that there is no justification in producing this half page colour picture except for the desire of The Irish Times to pay homage to its Protestant ascendancy roots.
Since you regularly advise governments and other organisations to change and meet the needs and interests of Irish people, I suggest that you might do the same for your readers. If you insist in honouring your heritage, why not publish a big picture of Queen Elizabeth with a detailed list of her birthday honours? At least we might recognise some of the names. Yours, etc.
Rathgar Road,
Dublin 6.