Hyde event to mark diverse cultures

Dr Douglas Hyde, this State's first president, will be remembered at a special ceremony in Aras an Uachtarain today, the 50th anniversary of his death at the age of 89.

Members of Orange lodges in the Republic may attend the ceremonies, which are part of the "Building Bridges" programme of the President, Mrs McAleese. Last year's event ran into controversy when it was attended by Orange Order representatives during the Drumcree crisis.

Participants in today's event, which will also celebrate cultural diversity, include Dr Brian Farrell, chairman of the Arts Council, and his Northern Ireland counterpart, Mr Brian Walker, who will speak on "Douglas Hyde and an Island of Cultural Diversity". Douglas Hyde's funeral service provided one of the sharpest illustrations of the cultural exclusivity which marked this island for so much of the 20th century. It took place at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was attended by just two Catholics, the French ambassador and poet Austin Clarke.

Clarke remembered the occasion caustically in his poem Burial of an Irish President:

". . . . at the last bench/Two Catholics, the French/Ambassador and I, kneltdown./The Vergers waited. Outside/ The hush of Dublin town./Professors of cap and gown,/ Costello, his Cabinet,/In Government cars, hiding/Around a corner, ready/Tall hat in hand, dreading/ `Our Father' in English. Better/ Not hear that `which' for `who'/and risk eternal doom . . ."

It was then a reserved sin in most Catholic dioceses, pardonable only by a bishop, for a Catholic to attend an Anglican/ Protestant service.

Fianna Fail was represented at Dr Hyde's funeral by Mr Erskine Childers, a member of the Church of Ireland. The party leader, Mr de Valera, attended the burial at Portahard, Co Roscommon, with the president, Sean T. O Ceallaigh. Both stayed in the graveyard "right to the end of the service", The Irish Times noted.

The same religious apartheid operated at Hyde's inauguration in 1938. The ceremony itself was preceded by two religious services: one at the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin, attended by the then Taoiseach, Mr de Valera, his government, the Opposition, the diplomatic corps, and other State representatives, and the other at St Patrick's Cathedral attended by Dr Hyde and some fellow Church of Ireland members. All later attended the same reception in Dublin Castle, which was hailed as a great advance.

As recently as 1922, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr J.A.F. Gregg, led a deputation to the then Provisional government inquiring whether Protestants were to be permitted to live in the new Ireland, or if it was desired that they should leave.

This followed episodes of what we now call ethnic cleansing, involving the killing of Anglicans/ Protestants and the burning of their homes and property throughout the new State.

Protestants were welcome to stay, Dr Gregg was assured.

Hyde remains one of the least appreciated yet central figures in modern Irish history. As his late daughter, Mrs Una Sealy, remarked sardonically in a 1972 Irish Press interview ". . .if he had killed people, he would have been considered great."

Hyde founded the Gaelic League in 1893 and it rapidly became a popular movement across the denominational divides. "It gave Protestants an opportunity to identify themselves with a great national interest," he would say later. After his 1915 resignation, he commented " . . .the moment we became political all the significance of the movement as one to build up a nation from all classes and creeds, came to an end."

An obituary in this newspaper on Hyde's death in 1949 said of the Gaelic League: "From it are easily traceable consequences from which it would not be extravagant to say the present political structure of the country emerged." On his becoming president in 1938, an Irish Times editorial said "all parties in Saorstat Eireann owe their titles and largely existence to him."

He is remembered annually at the Douglas Hyde Summer School, which will be opened by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, in Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, next Friday.