Sir: Reading Dr O'Brien's silly and pompous declaration that 'I
will be happy to leave public life, having done something to stamp out violent extreme nationalism in Ireland,' brought back memories of a clearly very violent, Pyjama-clad DrO'Brien, pictured in a troop carrier, amid the bombs and bullets of a war-torn Congo, caused by his intervention for the UN There is no gamekeeper so good as the one-time poacher. It is true to say that his government has filled our jails with fanatically violent sectarian nationalist young men and women. Undealt with, however, by a very cautious Dr O'Brien, and his sectarian Catholic conservative cabinet, and still free to work away on a new generation of young Irish people, are the Brothers, priests, and nun teachers of our Catholic religious orders, who teach in our schools. It is they who indoctrinate these once innocent youngsters in their violent and sectarian nationalism. Indeed, a seminal document in helping them to hate, is a Concise History of Ireland by none other than Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien, and his wife, Maire McEntee. This is the politically powerful hate-making machinery of violence that the brave Dr O'Brien clearly hasn't the stomach to deal with, while in a position to do so.
(Senator) Noel C. Browne Seanad Eireann, Baile Atha Cliath
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