Sir, - John Cooney's biography is an extraordinarily well researched, fascinating record of an outstanding figure who played a dominating role in all aspects of Irish life for over 40 years. For those who lived through the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, it is a reminder of what life was like in Ireland before the isolating wall of censorship tumbled, when so many aspects of our daily life were clerically controlled.
The book is not an attack on the archbishop, as many recent letters have suggested. Rather is it an account of his many achievements. Very considerable space is devoted to his generosity and spirituality, to his tremendous works for various charities, to his fantastic church-building programme.
What I found interesting in the book was the way it demonstrated how Archbishop McQuaid intervened so effectively at every level of Irish life to ensure that his wishes were implemented. There was the banning of Tampax in 1944, his attempt to prevent Sean O Faolain becoming the first director of the Arts Council, his rigorous monitoring of the activities of the Legion of Mary and the Society of St Vincent de Paul, his concern lest the Tuairim discussion group might involve Protestants, his over-ruling of the judges' decision in the Bird Avenue church competition, the banning of O'Casey's The Drums of Father Ned and Donleavy's Ginger Man - he even managed to stop Jayne Mansfield's planned visit to Tralee in 1967. He was everywhere. But most of all he was in the corridors of power ensuring that his view of morality and education was adopted by the State.
This book is as much a history of our times as a biography of a leading churchman. As far as I am concerned it is the outstanding book of the year! - Yours, etc.,
Michael Gorman Park Avenue, Sandymount, Dublin 4.