Madam, - Bryan Walker (April 26th) suggests that the GAA must fulfil certain criteria before he could be attracted to the organisation.
In listing these criteria, which oddly enough include ceasing to promote our native language, Mr Walker shows complete disregard for the sovereignty of the GAA and its members and supporters and reveals a misplaced assumption that removing Irish cultural and historical dimensions from things Irish is in some way synonymous with being enlightened.
As a regular spectator at both GAA and rugby games and as an active user of the Irish language, I can assure him that no one tradition on this island need subsume the other. On the contrary, each merits respect and recognition for what it symbolises.
To suggest that the biggest sporting organisation in this country should abandon its history and identity in order to accommodate such regressive views as those of Mr Walker is both offensive and irrational. - Is mise,
ANGELA McKENNA, Marino, Dublin 3.
Madam, - Bryan Walker harbours some valid concerns. While I agree that the GAA is primarily a sporting body and I am vehemently opposed to the involvement of religious figures in its administration and ethos, along with its use as a vehicle for political tribalism in Northern Ireland, I contest Mr Walker's view that the use of Irish at GAA events should be a barrier to Northern Protestants becoming members of the organisation.
As difficult as it may be for people to believe the Irish language is not, nor was it ever intended to be, an embodiment of sectarianism. The fact that Irish is championed by the Nationalist community is simply because it is what differentiates us, Irish people including Protestants, from the other English-speaking peoples of the world.
The fact that it gives one a sense of "Irishness" is a reason why nationalists see it as a defining their culture. Therefore the language is something that, in an ideal world, all Irish people, regardless of political persuasion, should embrace as a symbol of their identity - be that of an innate Irishness within the United Kingdom or as a sovereign, inclusive and thoroughly multicultural state. - Is mise,
MARK EIFFE, Model Farm Road, Bishopstown, Cork City.