Sir, I feel I must reply to Mr McCormaic's letter (December 15th) concerning the royal invitation, and the Literary and Debating Society's support of it. His letter was highly selective, inaccurate and unfair.
Having conducted some research into the society's history over the past year, I can confidently assert that the Lit `n' Deb has been anything but the mouthpiece of a "colonial mentality" down through its history. Firstly, I can find no evidence to support Mr McCormaic's claim that the Lit `n' Deb was founded "as an oratorical training ground for British army officers". Secondly, contrary to what he says, I had never heard the society being referred to as the "Lit and Brit" prior to reading his letter.
If anything, the Lit `n' Deb has been a nursery for nationalist views down through the years. Indeed, so worried were the college authorities by the nationalist fervour displayed at the Lit `n' Deb in the early years of this century, that they introduced a rule forbidding discussion of the Irish Question. The rule was removed following independence.
It is clearly wrong to dismiss the Lit `n' Deb as the "Lit & Brit" just because its members take the view that the head of our college was right to invite Queen Elizabeth. Mr MacCormaic's remarks that we are a "rarified and cocooned" society" say alot about his opinion of the several hundred of his fellow students who regularly attend Lit `n' Deb meetings. They stand in marked contrast to those of the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, which he made in a letter to a local paper following a recent visit by him to the society. He described the members of the Lit `n' Deb as "harbingers of a generous and tolerant future society".
I am thus grateful to Mr MacCormaic for clarifying that Professor O Ceidigh et al were chiefly speaking in their personal capacities. They certainly don't represent the forward looking Republic that I want to build.
Personally, I take offence to the idea that I am, in any way, less Irish if I dare to encourage a greater friendship between this State and its nearest neighbour. If we are to reach an acceptable accommodation on our island, then we must take steps to normalise relations with the UK. There comes a time when we must all try to forgive past warns. This does not mean surrendering our identity, or having to wrap the Union Jack around us again. The President's invitation was a small gesture towards friendly relations. We should at least be afforded the right to welcome it as such without our Irish identity being brought into question for doing so. Is mise le meas, Honorary member Literary and Debating Society Oranmore, Co Galway.