Sir, - I am most edified to see that An Post has issued a set of four stamps to celebrate Dracula. I only regret that this imaginative move has to be set against its decision, which I ascertained recently, not to celebrate in any way the 150th anniversary of the 1848 Young Ireland Rising, which occurs next July.
I wonder what the priorities are. Dracula was (and is?) a bloodsucker, of Romanian origin, with extensive offshore interests. As such, he is doubtless a suitable role-model for the present generation of fun-loving Irish entrepreneurs, but it is a pity that no thought is to be given to a group of decent, honourable men, led by William Smith O'Brien, who made a noble, if hopeless, effort to keep alive Ireland's sense of nationhood and self-respect in very dismal times.
As we pass blithely from the era of the family rosary round the fire to that of the strawberry-flavoured condom, there is a danger of our consigning to oblivion much that was good. - Yours, etc.,
John Dillon,
Thormanby Road, Baily, Co Dublin.