Madam, - Correspondents to the Letters page frequently seek to disparage Opus Dei by linking the group to Spain's Francoist regime. This has again been the case in relation to the Merrion Parish issue.
I know little of the organisation, but it is only fair to point out that the Opus Deista members of Franco's cabinet made up a progressive faction known as the technocrats. These, often gifted, ministers initiated economic modernisation, social reform and engineered the restoration of the monarchy under Juan Carlos. It should be borne in mind that there were other candidates for the throne, not least Franco's own grandson-in-law, the falangist-backed Don Alfonso de Borbon y Dampierre.
When the new king sought to transform Spain into a constitutional monarchy he turned to Opus Dei member Adolfo Suarez, whom he appointed prime minister. Suarez achieved this task with great adroitness and duly became Spain's first freely elected head of government in more than 40 years. - Yours, etc,
PAUL HENRY,
Distillery Road,
Dublin 3.