Madam, - Recently, a new terrace in Rathfarnham Village has been named "Wolfe Tone Terrace" in honour of the 1798 patriot. If you stand at this terrace, you can look up Butterfield Avenue. As many people know, another Irish patriot, Robert Emmet, leased a house on Butterfield Avenue, or Butterfield Lane as it was then known, and used it as the headquarters for planning the rising of 1803 from April until the morning of the rising on July 23rd of that year.
As far as I am aware, Tone had no connections with Rathfarnham. However, Emmet did and must have passed this way many times when organising the 1803 rising. While not taking away from the importance of Wolfe Tone in our country's history, I feel in this, the bicentennial of Robert Emmet's execution, it would have been more appropriate to have named the terrace "Robert Emmet Terrace".
Perhaps South Dublin County Council has the answer? - Yours, etc.,
COLM McANTHONY, Grange Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.