Letitia Dunbar-Harrison

Letitia Dunbar-Harrison (4 February 1906 – 1994) was an Irish librarian who became the subject of a controversy over her appointment. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, The Library Committee of Mayo County Council, mostly consisting of prominent local Catholics as well as a bishop, refused to endorse the recommendation, claiming her grasp of Irish was inadequate. During the debate, it was asked "could a Protestant be trusted to hand out books to Catholics?".

Debate about motives for non-appointment The reason given by the County Council for not appointing her as librarian was her insufficient grasp of Irish:

Éamon de Valera, leader of Fianna Fáil, said in the Dáil:

J. J. Lee suggested that the resentment of local people towards the Local Appointments Commission for appointing someone with little or no local connections may also have been a factor, but argued that sectarianism was also involved:

Professor John A. Murphy argued that it was a case of local versus national government:

The government resolved the situation by offering her a post in the Military Library in Dublin, which she accepted.

Life after Mayo controversy

She had met a Methodist minister, Reverend Robert Crawford, while in Castlebar. They married a few months after she started work in the Military Library, and she then became known as Aileen Crawford. Because of the marriage bar she had to resign her post.

The couple lived in Waterford, Tipperary, Louth and Antrim and had no children. After being widowed in the 1950s, she remained in Northern Ireland.

She attempted to become a Methodist minister, but was failed on one of her written exams for the post. She remained an active member of her church for many years and died in 1994.