Sir, – Kieran McNulty’s singular focus on James Connolly as a negative arbiter of the legacy of Daniel O’Connell (Letters, August 21st) failed to take account of O’Connell’s positive achievement in establishing a major burial ground for Catholics in Dublin.
Barriers to the performance of Catholic burial rites had been highlighted during O’Connell’s campaign for Catholic emancipation.
He encouraged the purchase of “ground to serve as an asylum, wherein their bones might be deposited with the forms of Christian burial, without fear of insult”.
These sentiments led to the establishment of two cemeteries, the first at Goldenbridge (Inchicore), the second at Prospect cemetery, Glasnevin.
Connolly would have known of the reputation of O’Connell as the founder of Glasnevin, but failed to acknowledge this achievement, one positively acknowledged by the working classes of Dublin in folklore recollections of the early 20th century. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK CALLAN,
Portmarnock,
Co Dublin.