Madam, - Please note that I, David E. St C. Herman, furniture auctioneer, valuer and estate agent of 161 Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6 and resident in Terenure, Dublin 6W am not connected in any way, shape or manner by blood or family in any way to the other David Herman who is a regular contributor to these columns of The Irish Times.
My views, political or otherwise, are private and have never been published, nor have I ever written to any other column in any other newspaper.
As far as I know, I and the other David Herman are the only two people of that name in Ireland, and with a fairly high profile in my profession, I find Mr Herman's contributions in your paper to be a cause of embarrassment as I am regularly accused of being him.
One of his more vehement oubursts was during the last abortion referendum, when he referred to the Catholic Church, as a result of which I received many phone calls from my clients.
The problem isn't with the people who phone, it is with the people who remain silent, and think I am constantly writing to your columns.
As we know, David Herman wrote a book about Dublin walks - another thorn in my side. I get regular phone calls requesting information such as: "Do I take the left or right path at Fitzgerald's Seat?" Walkers please note: I am not the other David Herman.
So where do we go with this problem? As far as I am concerned, I am the real David Herman, having been born on March 1st - St David's Day. Perhaps the other David could adopt a new pen name. Or maybe he could oblige me by signing off as "David Herman (not the auctioneer)". - Yours, etc,
DAVID E. ST. C. HERMAN, Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin 6.