Sir, - July 15th marked the 70th anniversary of the death, in Sir
Patrick Dun's Hospital in Dublin, of Constance Markievicz. The place of this redoutable figure in the history of Ireland is assured and requires no fresh comment on this occasion. By contrast, the link between Ireland and Poland realised through her marriage in 1990 to the artist and playwright Kazimierz Dunin Markiewicz, though enshrined in Constance's marital surname (usually spelled in Ireland with a "v"), may have become dimmed with the passage of time.
For their part, the Poles have not forgotten her, as is attested by the formal conferment in 1995 of her name on Primary School No 335
in the city of Warsaw. Would it not be a pleasing gesture if an Irish school - in Dublin or Sligo or elsewhere - might respond by proposing a "twinning" arrangement with the Warsaw school? - Yours, etc.,
MARCUS WHEELER, Professor Emeritus of Slavonic Studies, Queen's
University, Belfast.