Sir, I am Principal of Sandford National School and class teacher of pupils who wrote to the Turkish Prime Minister to express concern about human rights abuses in Turkey. Kevin Myers gained access to these letters and chose to comment on them in An Irishman's Diary (April 10th).
The pupils were informed of abuses in Turkey and elsewhere through a respected and reliable source: Amnesty International. They were moved by what they heard and, having received their parents' permission, wrote to register their concern: no coercion, no "brainwashing", their own views, their own choice to send the letters and, incidentally, they were better informed than Kevin Myers on human rights abuses in Turkey.
Some months later their school is publicly singled out and they are subjected to an inexplicably patronising attack by Kevin Myers. They are referred to as "little dears" who know "absolutely nothing about human rights and probably do not know where Turkey is." Their genuine letters of concern are dismissed as infantile abuse". The implication of the article is that they are not capable of forming and expressing their own opinions. Nothing could be further from the truth.
That these pupils, who showed concern for those less protected than themselves, should be publicly vilified in such a manner is a disgrace. In times of general cynicism, their altruism is refreshing. Shame on you, Kevin Myers, for shooting the messenger. - Yours, etc.,
Principal,
Sandford Parish National
School,
Sandford Close,
Dublin 6.