Sir, - Anna Brioscu's ears did indeed deceive her when she berates me (February 25th) for not recognising the sterling work done by her husband Aodhagan and herself in attacking the decision to award the commission for the Bird Avenue church in 1954 to one of the non-prize-winners. I salute, and have always done, the brave work done by editors/publishers like Aodhagan Brioscu and Uinnseann Mac Eoin who, through the bad years, applied the lash to those who would rather the second-rate to the work of a real artist. In this case, however, Anna Brioscu has apparently missed the point completely.
The real injury here, which I wanted to highlight, was done to Tom Ryan, a dedicated artist who shunned self-promotion and whose beautiful work was spurned. The elegant church at the Curragh Camp, designed when he was with the Office of Public Works, is a reminder of what might have been at Bird Avenue.
I did not say that "no one raised a voice in protest". My strictures in an interview for Nation Building, were against my own profession, in particular the other competitors in that notorious competition, myself included. We allowed the exhibition of all of the competition entries to go ahead but with the entry by Jones and Kelly in a prime position, while the prize-winners and commended entries were relegated to a corner. To add insult to injury we also allowed a large model, by Jones and Kelly, to be given prominent display while the competition conditions restricted the entries to black and white drawings. I said that we were all cowards not to have withdrawn our entries from the exhibition.
It doesn't do for those of us who are on the same side to fall out with each other. - Yours, etc.,
Sean Rothery, Sandyford, Co Dublin.