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‘Sparsely attended ecumenical services’?

Sir,—As a former president of the Maritime Institute of Ireland and organiser of the memorial services in Dublin for more than three decades, I must take issue with Daire Brunicardi re ‘sparsely attended ecumenical services’ in Dublin and Cork (‘Ireland and the Second World War’, HI 23.3, May/June 2015). For the record, the Institute’s memorial services were started in Dublin in 1952 by Capt. Tom Walsh of the Irish Nautical College and Capt. Sam Nelson, a Dublin pilot, with Mass in the Pro-Cathedral and a service in St Patrick’s Cathedral. The following year the Mass venue was changed to City Quay, where it continued until 2013. While over the years there was a decline in numbers at the St Patrick’s service, the City Quay Mass and wreath-laying have all been very well attended, with almost a full church. These were replaced in 2014 by a single ecumenical service in City Quay. In Cork the ecumenical service commenced in 1982, organised by Capt. David Swards and his wife Lulu, first in the Seafarers Club and for the past number of years in the board room of the Port of Cork HQ. Anytime I attended in the southern capital the room was full!—Yours etc.,

PAT SWEENEY