We should listen to what Fergal says

Sir — Fergal Keane’s article ‘Now more than ever, we need reasonable folk’ (Sunday Independent, February 10) is I believe the most perceptive and realistic piece of writing to appear in the media in ages.

After several decades commenting on conflicts round the globe, he has focused here on the home scene and brought a personal and human touch to his subject. As he reminds us of horrific events which were perpetrated in our name, he avoids broad generalisations but hones in on specific names dates and places. As he memorably phrased it: “We need to keep naming these names. What else can make a better claim for peace than these remembered names, dates and places?”

Two years ago, Keane produced a magisterial work in his book Wounds. Its subject was the War of Independence and the Civil War as these tragic events played out in his ancestral North Kerry. Here, too, he names people and places, sparing no sacred cows in the process. It is indeed moving to read the story of Inspector Tobias O’Sullivan (RIC) shot dead in front of schoolchildren on the street in Listowel. A native of Cornamona, Co Galway, he died at the hands of fellow Irishmen, with both he and his killers believing they were serving a noble cause. Then there was the murder of helpless prisoners at Ballyseedy by our own national army in a dark episode of our Civil War.

As we continue to mark the centenary of commemoration, War of Independence, Civil War etc, Keane’s Wounds should be compulsory reading for all. Also we are approaching a whole series of emotive 50th anniversary events in the North. Fr Iggy O’Donovan,

Fethard, Co Tipperary