Sir, - Your report (9 February) on the postponement of the Taoiseach's visit to Scotland carried the suggestion that trouble was likely to emanate from anti-Catholic elements in Scottish society. Can I remind your readers that a previous Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, although then out of office, attended an Old Firm match at Ibrox as guest of Rangers FC in October 1948?
His presence sparked no trouble among a crowd of 105,000. Dev was clearly unimpressed by the quality of the football - he left after 20 minutes. The main purpose of his visit was to address meetings organised by the Anti-Partition League. At one such meeting the same day as the match, Dev sent a message to the unionist majority in Northern Ireland: either choose to be Irish or "in God's name will you go to the country that your affections lie in". A more clearly bigoted statement from a politician would be hard to imagine. Yet it provoked no trouble, merely well-merited censure from the Scottish press of the day. This, of course, was at a time when it is widely agreed that sectarianism in Scotland was a far greater problem than it is today.
It might also be fairly asked, in view of Bertie Ahern's wish to go to Celtic Park for an Old Firm game, what the reaction of nationalist Ireland would be if David Trimble were to declare his intentions of attending the next one at Ibrox - Yours, etc.,
Graham Walker, School of Politics, Queen's University, Belfast, Belfast BT7