Sir, - I would like to thank Kevin Myers for his attempt to redress the balance (An Irishman's Diary, August 13th). Thank you for saying that we are not all "bad" now, and were not all "bad" then, and for letting our readers know it and be aware of it. My education, of which I am proud, in the much maligned Forties and Fifties, was in the hands of nuns, brothers, priests and two laymen. The only "cruelty" I endured was from the two laymen, but I, and the thousands of others like me, are not going to cry to high heaven now about punishment we received, and mostly deserved, 40 or 50 years ago. Thank you, Kevin. My two "cruel" laymen have been long given my Christian forgiveness. - Yours, etc.,
Fr Cyril Haran PP, Grange, Co Sligo.