Sir, - I am a first cousin of Prof Tom Dunne who has had at least one article and several letters published in your paper. We both bear the same relationship to John Rice, who was killed in the Battle of Ross in 1798 and whose name has been frequently mentioned by Prof Dunne.
Tom's side of the family has a more conservative tradition than mine and I know that he views with a cynical eye the motives of the followers of any "ism". His suggestion, however, that, in the terrible mayhem which followed the battle, our ancestor was killed by some sort of death squad of business competitors must surely have been inspired by the undertaker sketch in Monty Python.
His stress on the lack of evidence concerning John Rice's political affiliations is, I suggest, somewhat nit-picking. We know that he lived in a part of New Ross still called "The Irishtown", which lies outside the remnants of the medieval town walls. We know that he was killed along with a number of people who had sought shelter in his house from the government forces. The family tradition is that he was killed by yeomen and not by the people seeking refuge.
It seems obvious to met that, on the balance of probabilities, if he was not a United Irishman, he was at least sympathetic to the United cause. There must have been few neutrals around during the glorious and terrible time. - Yours, etc.,
Bill Roe
Cullenswood Park, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.