Sir, - I would like to say that I think that the Irish Rugby Football Union's action on April 26th in demolishing the farm buildings of the 200 year old house called Whitehall, is disgraceful and I am very annoyed. There was plenty of money available to put a clock in the Liffey which in the end did not work, but no money to preserve a once beautiful house!
Whitehall, which is near where I live, was originally owned by the John Philpott Curran whose daughter was Robert Emmet's girlfriend. It was also the child-hood home of Katherine Tynan, one of Ireland's most prolific poets and authors. The farmhouse filled Katharine with great inspiration as may be seen from her many poems. Her best known poem Sheep and Lambs was set to music by the late Sir Hugh Robertson. Founder of the Glasgow Orpheus Choir. Besides the literary heritage that I have on my doorstep, Whitehall was the constant home of Irish welcomes to such famous men and women as W.B. Yeats, Anna and Charles Stewart Parnell, John O'Leary, Micheal Davitt and many other such people of those turbulent Irish years of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Because of its tradition, Whitehall now ranks with Coole as the cradle of the Irish Literary movement.
To the Irish Rugby Football Union I would like to say - Whitehall is much more than bricks and mortar. It is part of my heritage - and the heritage of every man, woman and child in Ireland. Is a rugby stadium more important than this historic building? If it is, and it seems to be, then I can only take the Union's actions as an insult to the pride we have in our area. Money spent in demolition work could have been put to better use in maintenance work and security against further vandalism - both petty and professional. - Yours, etc.,
(Age 14),
The Park,
Kingswood,
Dublin 14.