Sir, - I visited the Radisson SAS Hotel at St Helen's, Stillorgan recently and was rather surprised at the summary of the house's history printed on the bar menu. So far as the hotel's management is concerned, the previous owners of St Helen's were Lord Hugh Gough and Sir John Nutting; the Christian Brothers, who owned the house from 1925 to 1988, have been airbrushed from this potted history.
The Brothers' ranks contained gifted and saintly men, educators of many who led the country to its present prosperity. Not all were sadistic paedophiles. I suggest that visitors from abroad, who owe a debt to the Brothers for their work overseas, might be just as interested in knowing their hotel was formerly the Irish Christian Brothers' Noviciate as that it was owned by an ascendancy family, little loved by the Irish.
The Christian Brothers' cross still stands proudly on the parapet of St Helen's. Long may it remain. - Yours, etc., Rose Mary Logue,
Woodley Park, Dundrum, Dublin 14.