A chara, Whereas I deplore the decision of the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, to discontinue funding to the Irish Women's Archive as recounted by Mary Cummins (June 6th), I must also question your columnist's apparent attempt to link this decision with the Government's backing of Telefis na Gaeilge.
If it is wrong to marginalise a section of the population by virtue of its gender, it must also be wrong to do so because of the language being spoken by another section of the population.
If it is wrong to deny one section of the population access to a "trove" of mellowed letters, clippings, recipes and diaries such as might be found in a brown suitcase in attics throughout Ireland, it must also be, wrong not to allow this generation and those which will follow access to another trove of Irish language material, from this and other ages. it is up to this generation to make its own mark on and with the Irish language and the most logical way to pursue this course is with the most powerful medium available, the television.
If it is wrong to write women like our mothers and grandmothers out of history and as my own Grandmother, Cait Ui Liathain, played her own part in the War of Independence, I would agree then it is also wrong to ignore the role played by the Irish language in this nation's struggle for independence. Like it or not, the Irish language also played an important role in the development of this nation, a part unfortunately not recognised with more enlightened policies for its conservation until recently with the establishment of Raidio na Gaeltachta, Udaras na Gaeltachta and, now, Telefis na Gaeilge.
The establishment of Telefis na Gaeilge is evidence that the will of a well organised and focused minority can prevail. This is not, however, merely for the enhancement of that minority but also for the enrichment of our entire society. The same could be said tore the re-establishment of Government backing for the Irish Women's Archive. Gach dea ghui, Baile Mhic Ire, Co Chorcai.