Sir On the Pat Kenny radio programme (November 23rd) and in a subsequent article in the Sunday Business Post (November 28th), Breda O'Brien produced some damning evidence in respect of the research carried out for the book Suffer the Little Children by Mary Raftery and Eoin O'Sullivan. The book, which is the follow-up to the documentary series States of Fear, seems to contain a distressing number of errors and omissions, some of which have serious implications for the good names of people dead and still living, not least Sister Stanislaus Kennedy.
In the editions of The Irish Times which have been published since these revelations first came to light there has been no attempt to follow them up or raise further questions with the authors. Given that States of Fear was such a shocking and - some would say - watershed documentary, I would have thought that the "paper of record" would have something to say now that serious doubts have raised about a book which will forever be part of the public record.
Instead your newspaper carried unquestioningly (November 23rd) a press release from the authors of the book which attempted to divert attention from O' Brien's revelations. Later in the week (November 26th) Fintan O'Toole rowed in with a groundless allegation that an attempt was being made to discredit the truth-seeking authors of Suffer the Little Children - this from a man whose own damaging tale about Sister Stan in a previous column was repeated by Mary Raftery and Eoin O Sullivan in their book and has also been shown by Breda O'Brien to be completely bogus.
As I write, Mary Raftery has just won another award for States of Fear. If the horrible reality of child abuse is ever to be fully understood and prevented, it is imperative that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth be told about the past. Serious questions are now being asked about Raftery and O' Sullivan's attempt to do this. It is high time that The Irish Times joined the questioners. - Yours, etc., Maria Byrne,
Monread Court, Naas, Co Kildare.