Madam, - I am increasingly concerned that Cathal Ó Searcaigh is being portrayed as a victim by some of his fellow artists. He is a capable and media-savvy poet who welcomes media attention when it is positive.
Neasa Ní Chanáin's film Fairytale of Kathmandudid not invent his story; and editing of innocent footage could not create a story as complex as this one. She has made an accurate record of Mr Ó Searcaigh's life in Nepal. If it were otherwise, surely Mr Ó Searcaigh would have taken legal action long ago to stop the film being released.
In the film there is no mention of the responsibility and trust given to Cathal Ó Searcaigh by his fellow artists in Aosdána, whose work raised €50,000 to support his charity. No legitimate charity has been set up and I, as a modest donor, am very annoyed and disappointed by his dishonesty and lack of empathy towards the people he is supposed to be helping. If there is one positive thing to come out of this, it is that the film was made and we have seen what can happen to poor and desperate young men.
If Mr Ó Searcaigh wants to redeem himself he could start by re-directing the €50,000 to a legitimate and regulated charity in Nepal, such as Voice of the Children or Wateraid. - Yours, etc,
EILIS O'CONNELL, Coolyduff, Inniscarra, Co Cork.
Madam - At what precise moment in the past week or so did artists, literary or otherwise, become purveyors of the moral values we would wish to impart to our children? Robert Ballagh put it well when he referred to Caravaggio and Oscar Wilde and asked whether we should examine their lives too when considering inclusions in the school curriculum.
Mr Ó Searcaigh's publicised lifestyle lacks, of course, the distance of time required to easily detach it from a view of his writing. Perhaps the issue offers a challenge to educators not only to separate the dancer from the dance, but to distinguish between the expression of homosexuality - which they have a duty, presumably, to present as a human right - and the exploitation of youths - which they have an equal duty, I would suggest, to present as an abuse of human rights.
They would not be assisted in this quest, regrettably, by the subjects of the story. If exploitation is not defensible by Ó Searcaigh under the banner of freely-expressed sexuality, then neither is appealing to the prurience and latent homophobia of the viewing public under the guise of exposing this exploitation. - Yours, etc,
KIRSTIN SIMPSON, New Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8.
Madam, - In response to David Rolfe's letter of March 15th, I do not think Aosdána should have to play the role of moral watchdog. Its remit is to support artists. Regardless of whatever opinion one may have of Cathal Ó Searcaigh after viewing Fairytale of Kathmandu, his track record as a poet is a given.
Where would it all end? Imagine some agency trawling through our collective cultural heritage on our behalf and to purge us of all artists suspected of immoral behaviour. We have moved on from lists of banned books and their ilk. Let's keep it that way. - Yours, etc,
ROBERT DUFFY, Hacketstown, Co Carlow.