Sir, - The 11th International Congress of Celtic Studies was held recently in UCC. This is the third time that the quadrennial week-long Congress has been held in Ireland, having met previously in UCD (1959) and in UCG (1979). Some 500 delegates attended, representing almost every country in Europe and almost every part of the world with the exception of Africa and South America.
Details of the programme were provided to The Irish Times in advance. What was your response? Dick Hogan (Southern Report, July 27th) quoted what he described as a "press release" (actually more a semi-literate rant) he had received: "Scoop! Scoop! Scoop! International Congress in UCC - in Celtic Studies being organised from Dublin - no organisational expertise available in UCC??? - where have all the rebels gone??? - single tickets to Dublin??? - shame, shame, UCC." This came to him stapled to a copy of a circular to delegates from Incentive Conference Ireland, the Dublin organisers.
It would seem odd, indeed, if a company were to issue a "press release" castigating its own appointment, but not, evidently, to Mr Hogan. He contacted Incentive Conference Ireland only to be told (surprise, surprise) that the company knew nothing about it. He was further told by a UCC spokesperson that the university had no knowledge of the matter. It was suggested to Mr Hogan that it was the work of an anonymous mischief-maker.
One would have thought it was now high time for Mr Hogan to consign the "press release" to the rubbish bin where such anonymous messages belong. Not so. His piece of investigative journalism, as described above, was published under the heading: "Mischief on UCC Campus". This was the extent and nature of your coverage of a major international congress. Rather shabby, don't you think? - Yours, etc.,
Prof Sean O Coileain, University College, Cork.
Dick Hogan writes: Prof O Coileain is quite correct to suggest that I contacted the purported writer of the letter and UCC in an effort to discover from whence it had come. O Coileian's department that it certainly did not emanate from UCC. I was also advised that I should not use the story - because it was the work, most probably, of a prankster. In my judgement, this was a newsworthy story, albeit a flippant one. Is there no room left for flippancy in UCC, which has received more coverage in recent of years in The Irish Times - particularly in Southern Report - than in any other newspaper? O Coileian after I became aware of his letter, but he declined to have a conservation with me.