The Spike Island visitor attraction has rejected suggestions it has cynically exploited its link to Little Nellie, the “unofficial patron saint of Cork”.

The Bishop of Cork and Ross, John Buckley, wants the body of “Little Nellie” to be exhumed from its grave at the now-derelict Good Shepherd Convent site in Sunday Well (Irish Examiner, 18 August).

The Bishop of Cork and Ross has called for the exhumation of the remains of Little Nellie — the “unofficial patron saint” of Cork — from a cemetery on lands controlled by receivers to allow people to pray at her grave.