Madam, – Michael Kennedy’s review of My Father the General by Risteard Mulcahy (Weekend Review, July 25th) borders on the obscene in its simplistic assessment of Gen Mulcahy as “an ordinary but capable man in extraordinary times”.
“One who embraced obscurity, he was more comfortable as a backroom boy” is surely revisionism gone a little bit too far. A pivitol player throughout this historic period, after the truce, he was commander-in-chief of the provisional army, architect of the military courts, member of the military dictatorship, executioner of 77 republican prisoners of war, and was to the forefront in replacing the Irish revolution with neo-colonialism at the behest of his imperialist masters. In honouring the memory of the murdered Mellows, O’Connor, McKelvey and Barrett, surely the article should have been entitled “The counter revolution’s unsung hero” – Yours, etc,