Did you know that in Co Clare the Merriman Summer School is more famous than the great poet Brian Merriman after whom the school was named?
In preparation for this year's school, which was opened last night by the former president, Dr Patrick Hillery, in Ennistymon, the organisers surveyed Clare people. According to the school's director, Prof Willie Smyth of UCC, 60 per cent of those surveyed knew more about the school's activities than they did about Brian Merriman.
Only 35 per cent knew Merriman was a poet. And when asked to name the three most famous people from Co Clare, more people named Ms Sile de Valera than her grandfather, Eamon.
Prof Smyth said one of the most satisfying results of the survey was that after 30 years as a summer school, Merriman is now seen as an integral part of Clare's cultural life and as an important promoter of Irish culture.
He said the theme of this year's Summer School - "Thomond and Clare: A Mirror of Ireland" - suggested different ways of representing Clare and Ireland. The theme stretched the possibilities of seeing Clare from many angles. It also emphasised the need to examine how Clare and Irish people now managed to construct and negotiate their place in a regularly changing world.
"Thomond in the title stresses north Munster and incorporates the decisive influence of the city of Limerick in the region. The county of Clare remains the central core of the debate, but the role of the Mid-West Planning Region will also be evaluated," Prof Smyth said.
During the coming week Ger Loughnane, the Clare hurling coach, will participate in a symposium on Clare's hurling successes in the 1990s. There will be an evaluation of ecology in the Burren and how it is faring and debates on tourism and lifestyles in Co Clare.