Sir, - An aspect of Irish life sometimes remarked on by visitors is the respect and reverence shown to the deceased and bereaved. Provided, that is, they are known.
Whenever I visit the National Museum, I find it profoundly disturbing that there are so many human remains, complete and incomplete, on display. Perhaps the best known would be the "bog body", described in the museum's own leaflet as one of its most popular exhibits. Most chilling, though, is a skull from mediaeval Dublin, which appears to have been sliced through the orbit by a sword.
There are other remains showing evidence of similar severe injuries. To die in such a manner is bad enough, but to have one's bones on display in a glass case is surely the final insult.
We cannot know who these people were, but it is possible that their blood flows in our veins. Whatever expectations they might have had of final resting-places have been spectacularly thwarted. Could we not now show them some of the respect which was denied them in life and give them a decent burial? - Yours, etc.,
Paul Griffin, Walton East, Clarbeston Road, Pembrokeshire, Wales.