Sir, - We do not need a statue of Patrick Pearse in O'Connell Street. He already has any number of streets and railway stations named after him, and at the site in question, the sculpture in the window of the GPO is now clearly visible. This may be enough commemoration for someone who suffered from messianic delusions, and who incited people to xenophobia and bloodshed at a point in history when the world was already sinking in a morass of national hatred and slaughter.
If we were to erect a new staue in O'Connell Street for the Millennium, I think we should choose someone who swam against the hateful, bloody or unjust tendencies of their time. As all the other statues are of men, we must also ask: do we know of no woman whose contribution to humanity in Ireland can be compared with those of Parnell, Larkin or O'Connell? I suggest Maria Edgeworth or Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington, but perhaps others will have better ideas. Mrs Robinson would probably be embarrassed. . . - Yours, etc.,
Ben Hemmens, Graz, Austria.