Sir, – The potential impact of CAP reform on Irish agriculture is an issue worthy of careful analysis. Whether or not the impact suggested by the IFA (Editorial, August 18th) is, as you state, “overly gloomy” remains to be seen.
However, amid the uncertainty over the impact of future policy change on Irish agriculture we can be certain about at least one thing. The poem Said Hanrahan, from which the line "We'll all be ruined, said Hanrahan" is taken, was not written by Percy French. Said Hanrahanwas written by an Australian poet Fr Patrick Joseph Hartigan writing under the nom de plumeJohn O'Brien. The poem was published in an anthology of O'Brien's poetry entitled Around the Boree Log and Other Versesin 1921. – Yours, etc,