Madam, - We, the undersigned, write to deplore in the strongest terms the review by Quentin Fottrell (March 1st) of Pat Kenny's radio interview with Dr Roberto Canessa of Montevideo.
Whereas Pat Kenny dealt with all the issues surrounding the Andes plane crash of 1972, in which 29 people died and 16 survived after 72 days of unimaginable hardship, in a totally professional way, the review that ensued read as a juvenile and protracted sneer.
This piece of inaccurate journalism appeared to be based on a few lame jokes and a quick Google of the film, Alive, unworthy of The Irish Timesand insulting to those who died and to a distinguished cardiologist who has devoted his life, after his Andean experience, to the service of sick children, the homeless (the Viven charity), to sport and to his society in general. He will receive no personal remuneration for his presentations at Croke Park and Skerries Community College next week and to suggest, as your reviewer does, that "he is dining out on the remains of his dead friends, 35 years on", is a piece of character assassination beneath contempt.
Those of us who are fortunate enough to know the man and who are organising this visit on a purely voluntary basis, are saddened by this gratuitous insult to a magnanimous person.
Those who hear him speak will hear a story of suffering and courage, of selfless generosity and reconciliation, a story worth listening to in our more cynical and "sophisticated" times. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL BRANAGAN,
HUGH F RYAN,
(on behalf of the organising
committee),
Holmpatrick,
Skerries,
Co Dublin.