Rare MacSwiney letter up for grabs

A handwritten letter penned in Irish by former Cork lord mayor Terence MacSwiney could fetch up to €1,500 at an antique book fair this weekend.

In the one-page letter, MacSwiney invites his friend ‘Padraig’ to his house so his children can converse through Irish with his daughter Máire.

His sister, also Máire, who took over his Dáil seat after MacSwiney’s death after a 73-day hunger strike in Brixton Prison in Oct 1920, would also be present for the gathering MacSwiney wrote in the letter.