Statue for our ‘Pimpernel’?

JOE DUFFY’S reference in his column last week to Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty was very timely.

Seán Russell, a Nazi collaborator and former IRA chief of staff during World War II has a statue in Fairview Park to honour him.

It’s doubtful that a statue will ever be erected in Dublin for a true Irish hero of that war, Monsignor O’Flaherty, who was known as the Vatican Pimpernel.

The monsignor saved the lives of many Jews and Allied troops, and as a result he was awarded the CBE.

However, the monsignor might finally receive the overdue recognition due to him if Pope Francis, during his visit to the Republic this month, were to advocate the erecting of a statue in our capital in his honour, as the monsignor was a senior official of the Roman Curia. Tony Moriarty, Dublin 6W.