Hidden History - an alternative viewpoint you won’t hear on RTÉ

RTE’s ‘Hidden History’ on landlordism during the famine (November 9) was a good guide to the past, but a bad guide to present-day Ireland.

Today’s farmers are comfortably subsidised - and are able to dump their goods on African markets, so now economic devastation and starvation visit that continent.

Secondly, are landlords to remembered only for their shortcomings? Vigorous debate is fine on RTÉ - no one is forced to watch it - but the worry is that the RTÉ line, highlighting only the evil that men do, will spill over into the classroom where there is a captive audience. Opinion on landlords varies from area to area. For instance, in Abbeyleix, the local take on the vanished gentry is bemused, tolerant, even a little wry.

Thirdly, the small farmer is yet again under threat - this time from the EU, not landlordism.

Dominic O’Neill

368 Lr Kimmage Road

Dublin 6W