Give park gate name honour to bishop

IN response to the Limerick Civic Trust proposal that a new gate to the People’s Park be named in honour of a Limerick figure, I propose the priest who became the first Catholic bishop of Owerri in Nigeria.

Bishop Joseph Whelan was born in nearby Carey’s Road, across from the park, and he became a missionary in Africa at an early age.

Most Limerick people over a certain age will remember the heroic stand of Bishop Whelan during the Biafra war, when he was leader of the Holy Ghost Mission in the war-torn country.