A chara, – In his defence of RTÉ and the Royal Irish Academy’s sweetheart book deal, Diarmaid Ferriter ascribes certain negative motives to Tim Pat Coogan and myself in his reply of April 28th. This is always a rather weak form of argument.
When he asserts that my WT Cosgrave biography contains no original documents, he is incorrect. There are more than 20 such documents published for the first time in the book. I acknowledge that they are not reproduced on glossy plates as in his book on Eamon de Valera. The publisher could not afford the cost involved and taxpayers’ money was not footing our bills for printing and publicity.
For the record, I was critical of Dr Ferriter in my Cosgrave book. In his The Transformation of Ireland book, he highlighted, without any qualification, a disparaging story about WT Cosgrave in connection with the Boundary Commission. The story was totally out of character for Cosgrave, and, as has been pointed out by reputable historians, is of doubtful authenticity. – Is mise,
Madam, – Tim Pat Coogan did not appear on the Oireachtas Report programme (April 27th). However, he did engage in a robust discussion with Diarmaid Ferriter on The Week in Politics, an analysis programme dealing with issues which are relevant to Irish politics and not part of any publicity machine. It is, by the way, a programme that has the words of both Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins in its opening animation. – Yours, etc,