Sir, - Helen Litton (October 9th) tries to let Neil Jordan down lightly from the charge that his Michael Collins movie is far too cavalier with the facts, at a time when we should he giving the Provisionals no false historical fodder with which to feed raw recruits.
There is no evidence that physical abuse of Easter Rising leaders" took place. There is a strong folklore tradition that Tom Clarke had his shirt torn (this soon became "stripped") by a G man, Captain Lea Wilson and this incident is recorded in my screenplay on Collins. Apart from Clarke - and even that alleged incident, like all stories coming from one side, should be treated with caution - Pearse and the other leaders were treated pretty well by the British military, who after all were in the middle of a world war.
One of the many problems with Neil Jordan's film is that he claims his film is historically accurate, but then invents incidents to justify subsequent savagery shown by Collins. For example, James Connolly is depicted being kicked while lying wounded on a stretcher. This did not happen; neither was a crowd in Croke Park machine gunned.
These fictional atrocities will now, through the power of a movie, pass into the iconic imaginations of our children. Are we asked to believe that the Provisional IRA will not use them to work on the minds of the young Diarmaid O'Neills who cross their path?
No, Neil Jordan is not off the hook. - Yours, etc.,
Trafalgar Terrace,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.