Figures of hate and matters of fact

THE letter from Gerard Harrington regarding the RTÉ ‘Figure of Hate’ programme (November 17) has just been brought to my attention.

The points that Mr Harrington makes regarding the location of William Martin Murphy’s birth and the name given to the group known as the Bantry Band are well made, if a little trivial.

I am surprised, however, at a significant error in the letter.

William Martin Murphy is described as the proprietor of the Freemans Journal. The ‘Freeman’ was the Parnellite paper and, following the split in the Irish Party over the Chief’s divorce scandal, was Murphy’s political arch-enemy.

It ceased publication in 1924 and the title was bought by William Martin Murphy’s son, William Lombard Murphy, then chairman of Independent Newspapers, and incorporated into the Irish Independent.

This was five years after William Martin’s death.

Gerald M Murphy

Two-Mile-House

Naas

Co Kildare