Honouring diversity in heritage

Madam, - It is a mark of a politically mature society that it can rise above the conflicts of the past and accommodate the diverse…

Madam, - It is a mark of a politically mature society that it can rise above the conflicts of the past and accommodate the diverse heritage of its history. It hardly needs saying that in Ireland such a mature attitude is particularly important, and thankfully the Irish people demonstrated it emphatically in their endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement by referendum in 1998.

It is depressing to realise, therefore, that there are still some slow learners among us, as shown by recent correspondence concerning the Killiney obelisk and the naming of Mountjoy Square. The fact that both original contributions were based on a misapprehension (as others have pointed out) shows how eager some people still are to jump to conclusions founded upon an overpowering sense of past victimhood, without pausing to check the facts. Happily, most of us have moved a long way from the time when it was acceptable for a government minister to pour scorn on the "belted earls" of the Irish Georgian Society.

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council deserves to be commended for its recent care of what some may consider part of our colonial heritage: the restoration of the Victoria Fountain on the harbour front (despite serious threats from hardline republican quarters), and now the conservation of the Killiney obelisk. - Yours, etc,

ROY STANLEY, Beechwood Park, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.