Sir, – Eamon de Valera (May 29th) is disingenuous in how he presents the “facts” of the “bonds” sold in the US from 1919. In fact “bonds” were not sold, but bond-certificates, after the several lawyers in the Irish-American political organisation, The Friends of Irish Freedom (FOIF) eventually managed to convince an obstinate Eamon de Valera that it would be illegal to sell bonds in the US for a country which did not then exist, the Irish Republic.
The present Eamon de Valera has wilfully ignored the sad saga of the bond-certs drive from 1919 and has chosen to begin his vindication of his grandfather’s actions in the US from the later date of 1933. Quoting in full a letter written by the late Eamon to prove these “facts” is indefensible.
To understand the unedifying battle which Eamon de Valera waged against the Irish Free State, the FOIF and anyone who would thwart his intention to secure the monies raised in the bond-cert drive to further the programme of his Fianna Fáil party and for the establishment of a newspaper which would reflect the views of that party, read, Money for Ireland by Francis M Carroll (2002). – Yours, etc,
EILEEN McGOUGH,
(Author, Diarmuid Lynch:
A Forgotten Irish Patriot,
Mercier Press, 2013),
Kinsale,
Co Cork.