Sir, - Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, January 9th), lambasted the Catholic Hierarchy, who, he alleges won the abortion and divorce referendums in the 1980s by "perfectly despicable methods".
This is the political correct view of those two referendums fostered by the media and it is a view totally divorced from reality. It is surprising, as Kevin Myers in the past has often looked deeper than the accepted PC version of events.
The Hierarchy did not initiate either referendum. The abortion referendum was initiated by a group of citizens who informed all the churches after it was launched. The divorce referendum was imposed on the public by the Labour/Fine Gael Government in 1986 without warning. It was a ham-fisted effort and was deservedly defeated.
I have no knowledge of the gross intimidation which Mr Myers describes. If any occurred, I am sure that it occurred on all sides, including the partisan media.
An interesting fact in both referenda was that in Border areas where the denominations can be defined by geographic locations, the voting patterns of Catholic and non-Catholic citizens were similar. - Yours, etc., E. O Raghallaigh,
Mapas Road, Dalkey, Co Dublin.