A chara, - According to your Southern Report (October 19th), Mr Aidan Stanley has produced a film "tracing the route of St Finbarr from Gougane Barra to . . . the city of Cork which he founded" for screening later this year on RTE.
I find this very interesting because, since 1977, I have been publishing books and articles to show that what travelled along the river Lee was not the saint but his legend. In fact, the saint never set foot in Cork, or in any other of the many churches associated with his name and legend, except, of course, his home church which seems to have been Movilla in County Down.
Could it be that the "material of great historical interest" uncovered by Mr Stanley on his trip included fresh evidence of Finbarr's historical presence in Cork? If so, I for one should like to hear more about it. - Is mise,
Padraig O Riain, Department of Early and Medieval Irish, University College, Cork.