Since the airing of the RTÉ tv programme in 2007, and more particularly since the publication of Leentje Folens' book in October 2023, I have felt compelled to write to journalist Senan Molony who played a prominent part in the tv programme.
The programme vilified Albert Folens, who had been my French teacher in Coláiste Mhuire in the early 1960s, and Leentje's book has refuted the allegations made and with concrete evidence.
I reproduce the contents of my letter below.
15/3/24
Senan Molony
Irish Independent
Independent House,
27 - 32 Talbot Street,
Dublin 1,
Ireland
D01 X2E1
Dear Senan Molony
I am writing to you as an outraged former pupil of Albert Folens who was my French teacher in Coláiste Mhuire in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
I assume that you are aware of the recent publication of a book by Folens’ daughter which clearly sets out what he did, and more importantly, what he did not do during WWII and the massive miscarriage of justice which was perpetrated on him by the Belgian authorities and later magnified by the RTÉ programme Hidden History: Ireland’s Nazis in which you played a prominent part.
I am also conscious of your “interview” with Folens of some twenty years earlier, which is referred to in the programme. It appears that this was much less of an interview than a re-traumatisation of an already traumatised victim of WWII.
It is certainly not the kind of journalism I aspired to in my youth.
I would be interested to know if you now have any intention of publicly apologising to the Folens family for the unnecessary trauma you inflicted on that family both before and after Folens’ death.
I also wonder what led to you targeting Folens in the first place.
I expect a reply to this letter. You should treat the letter as not private and in the public domain. I will treat your reply accordingly.
Pól Ó Duibhir
Since I did not receive a reply, or even the courtesy of an acknowledgment, I am now publishing my letter.
I am currently working on a talk on Albert Folens.