Madam, – Fintan O’Toole in his review of James Downey’s book In My Own Time (October 17th) praises Conor O’Clery’s “reporting on the fall of the Soviet Union” when he was Moscow Correspondent of The Irish Times.
The fall of the Soviet Union and the events that led to it took place after Conor had left Russia. The coverage of these momentous stories fell to me as Moscow Correspondent of the paper at that time.
I do not wish in any way to diminish the exceptional coverage of international affairs by my friend and colleague Conor O’Clery. He reported with great distinction from Russia in the Soviet era, as well as from China, the UK, the US and elsewhere. I feel it is important, however, in the interest of accuracy, to put the record straight. – Yours, etc,