Sir, - If Mr Higgins, the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, is successful in abolishing the Genealogical Office, it will be a tragedy of immense cultural and historic magnitude, especially for the Irish diaspora. This would effectively end the historic Irish heraldic and genealogical authority and deprive the nation of its oldest functioning office of State, thereby shattering 4 1/2 centuries of cultural continuity.
The vacuum created by the abolition of the Genealogical Office would allow the English heralds to exercise, through the Ulster office, their jurisdiction throughout the country. This is a right which the then Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, was at pains to reserve to the Irish people when, in 1943, his Government quite correctly assumed control of those heraldic and genealogical rights and prerogatives formerly exercised by the British Crown in Ireland.
Given that it is the Minister's brief to protect our artistic, cultural and linguistic heritage, I can only surmise that his desire to do away with this office of State is motivated either by some misguided left wing political philosophy, or an ignorance of the importance and specific function of the office. In any event, and whatever his motivation, his proposal to abolish the Genealogical Office is, without a doubt, contrary to his duties and responsibilities to the Irish people as a guardian of our art, culture and language.
To the diaspora, the Genealogical Office is a beacon that shines out from the Homeland. This beacon should not be extinguished. - Yours, etc.,
Holybrooke Hall,
Bray, Co Wicklow.