Sir, – "This is not the person that was my late father. It was not the Sean Doherty that represented the people of Roscommon", asserts his daughter Rachel in Steven Carroll's piece on the Doherty family's reaction to last Sunday's drama Charlie ("Sean Doherty's daughter criticises 'salacious' drama", January 12th).
I beg to differ.
While not doubting for one minute that Mr Doherty was a loving father and husband who entered public life to do good by the people of Roscommon, he, like many other good and intelligent men, left their high ideals behind during the Haughty years.
The programme was not about the life of Sean Doherty but about Charlie and those who supported the low standards in high places at the time.
His daughter reminds us that she was 12 at the time of the events depicted. Well I was older . Old enough to feel like I was living in a South American dictatorship without the sunshine.
Mr Doherty played his part in creating that environment, and while eventually outing his former leader, his late intervention does not erase the events, which are a matter of record, for which he will be remembered.
If his daughter wants a career in politics, she will have to get used to that fact and move on to achieve better things in her career. In that I wish her well. – Yours, etc,
BERNARD LYNCH,
Malahide, Co Dublin.