Sir, - The relative personal merits of Kitty Kiernan versus Hazel Lavery don't greatly interest me. But Sinead McCoole's letter (December 2nd) misrepresents my comments about her description of Kiernan in your paper.
The suggestion that I should join the Collins movie debate, with which so many people including Ms McCoole and her editorial adviser Mr Harris have engaged, is interesting. However, I did not excuse filmmakers for presenting women as one dimensional characters, and I referred nowhere to Lavery's sentiments for Michael Collins.
The Lavery book's reprint retains the points I originally noticed, such as altering statements by the late Leon O Broin. Finally, factual evidence about Kiernan's activities was already published in sources used by Ms McCoole, and did not require extra research. - Yours, etc.,
Royal Terrace West,
Dun Laoghaire.