Sir, - Tom Dunne apparently initiated the debate under the above title on January 6th last in The Irish Times, but having missed that contribution I replied to his further missive of April 20th in which he tries to discredit the contemporary historical references to a Wexford senate and a Wexford republic.
In his seeming omniscience about all '98 matters, Prof Dunne appears to be able to see into the mind of George Taylor and thus to impute certain attitudes towards events on Taylor's part. I have no problem accepting the fact that Taylor was a Protestant loyalist and that his history was written from that standpoint. That does not lessen the implication of his factual account - that a "senate" was set up in Wexford town during the period of insurgent supremacy and that, de facto, a Wexford "republic" was in existence during that time. Further, I had no special reason for stressing that Taylor's was the first history of the '98 rising, apart from the fact that it was just that.
Taylor lived in Co Wexford and probably knew many of the insurgent leaders. Charles Dickson, in his The Wexford Rising in 1798, says Taylor's work "is chiefly valuable where he describes events of which he was an actual eye-witness ... particularly in Wexford town where he had a very narrow escape from death on Wexford Bridge." He was on the spot and wrote of events as he saw them. He uses the terms "Senate" and "Senate House" - this surely can be taken as evidence of such a body.
Mr Brian Cleary (April 23rd) in my opinion, has answered Prof Dunne's assertion that there is not "a shred of evidence" for the existence of a rebel hospital in New Ross. Does Prof Dunne accept Thomas Cloney's account of the burning of this building by the military? He, too, was on the spot, remember. As for Prof Dunne's chagrin at having his great-greatgreat grandfather, John Rice, listed among "republicans and United Irishmen" in my booklet Here's Their Memory, may I reassure him that this was done to honour the man who gave his life to save others. If he wishes, I can remove John Rice's name in any future edition of the book. But what do other descendants think of this? - Yours, etc., Richard Roche,
Kincora Avenue, Dublin 3.