Madam, - I refer to the "liosta mór le rá" of literary luminaries (March 11th) who sought to prevent the screening of Neasa Ní Chianáin's sensitive and painfully courageous documentary on a flawed icon.
For far too long Irish society was cowed into silence by a priesthood that circled the wagons in defence of the misdeeds of its confrères. For that reason, I particularly welcome the decisive steps taken by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to lift the lid on all such clerical cover-ups.
But in this secular age, has the Catholic hierarchy now been supplanted by an artistic elite that is attempting to silence witnesses and critics of the sins of its own confrères; a new priesthood of poetic druids? - Yours, etc,
MANUS O'RIORDAN,
Finglas Road,
Dublin 11.
Madam, - The signatories to the letter in Tuesday's edition seem to miss the mark on every count. Firstly, they display a regrettable and condescending pessimism regarding the ability of the Irish public to properly recognise the blatant distinction between homosexual behaviour in general, and the manipulative and insidious behaviour of Cathal Ó Searcaigh. This is most obnoxiously expressed in the claim that for RTÉ to broadcast Fairytale of Kathmandu is irresponsible and will lead to hatred against homosexuals. The implication is that the signatories alone, in a backward society, carry the terrible burden of tolerance and reason, and that censorship is warranted in this case to prevent the poor, foolish Irish from becoming upset.
Secondly, they undermine their own credibility by lamenting the director's supposed "exploiting [ of] the subjects of this film", when it is made disturbingly clear to anyone watching that the only exploitation occurring is on the part of the self-styled "Guru of the Hills". Their argument seems to be that by portraying some of Ó Searcaigh's - at best - inappropriate behaviour, along with some fairly damning secondary testimony, the film-makers, and by extension RTÉ, have served to "feed homophobic stereotypes of gay men".
This argument might have legs were it not for the stubborn fact that Ó Searcaigh's exploitation and manipulation actually took place. For any self-respecting documentary-maker to have not included these crucial passages, would, in contrast to the letter's claim, have in fact been a dereliction of duty to the public interest.
Finally, the pseudo-defence of Ó Searcaigh's behaviour - that the boys involved were over the Nepalese age of consent - is at best highly flawed. In fact, according to a letter written by members of Nepal's Supreme Court and published on the website of the Human Rights Watch group, there is no legal age of consent for homosexual sex in that jurisdiction, and a statute banning "unnatural sex" constitutes the effective criminalisation of homosexual sex in Nepal. Notwithstanding this ambiguity, it is for shame that the crafters of this letter saw fit to rush to an indignant defence of Mr Ó Searcaigh - a defence which is quite possibly of no legal basis, and most certainly misguided in spirit. It suggests on their part a fuzziness of moral and critical faculties almost on a par with that of the championed Mr Ó Searcaigh himself. - Yours, etc,
DAN MAC GUILL,
Hartstown,
Clonsilla,
Dublin 15.
Madam, - Maire Mhac An tSaoi and her friends (March 11th) refer to the whipping up of public hysteria with regard to the Ó Searcaigh documentary. Their own reaction to the affair has a strong element of hysteria about it.
As a member of the gay community, I am distressed at the way they claim there is a homophobic agenda behind the screening of the documentary on RTÉ. She does us no favours. Her allegation is plainly nonsense. If a major Irish heterosexual poet had been the subject of a documentary during which it became obvious that he was having sexual relations with a number of 16-year-old girls, I am quite sure that there would be similar public interest. - Yours, etc,
MAURICE POWER,
Southern Road,
Cork.
Madam, - Am I alone in finding it distressing that 10 educated people, some of them poets, (a) advocate censorship, and (b) apparently do not know the meaning of the word homosexuality? Homosexuality was not "decriminalised" in Ireland 15 years ago, for the simple reason that it was never criminalised. (Homosexual acts were illegal.)
The suggestion in the letter that if the young people in the Ó Searcaigh case were female "it would simply be a non-story" is crudely disingenuous. - Yours, etc,
RONAN FARREN,
Killiney,
Co Dublin.