A chara, - In a report of the Sinn Fein Ardfheis (The Irish Times, April 20th) your reporter Maol Muire Tynan sneered a little at the fact that Wolfe Tone was depicted by the Dublin actor Ger O'Leary. Ms Tynan writes how "odd" it was to hear this person from "Northern Presbyterian upper-middle class stock" speak with a Dublin accent.
Ms Tynan merely reveals her ignorance. Tone was not Presbyterian, he was Church of Ireland. He was not Northern - he was a Dubliner. We will never know how the Dublin accent of the late 18th century sounded, but it probably wasn't too different from that of today. And finally, it's inaccurate for Ms Tynan to say that Tone was upper middle-class, he was what today we'd call lower middle-class. - Is mise,
David Barnwell
Bothar Padraig, Baile Atha Cliath 9.