A chara, – It was good and timely of Diarmaid Ferriter ("Hayes's Hotel where Cusack founded GAA needs saving", Opinion & Analysis, September 6th) to raise the possibility of the GAA buying Hayes's Hotel, Thurles, the birthplace of the GAA. After Sunday's pulsating final – the third of three drawn All-Ireland hurling finals – the financial resources are surely there. Moreover, there are precedents for ventures into unusual territory – in my adopted city of Belfast the National Trust owns one of Belfast's finest public houses and heritage buildings, the Crown Bar.
A commercial-cum-heritage project on an iconic site in my home town of Thurles would have the further benefit of aiding rural renewal in the region.
Needless to add, as Tipperary are set to reclaim the All-Ireland title in a few weeks, it would be especially fitting that such a decision be made on this the 130th anniversary of the founding of the GAA at Hayes’s Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary. – Is mise,
Prof LIAM KENNEDY,
Queen’s University,
Belfast.