Politics Of The GAA

Sir, - At a seminar in the Glencree Centre on Friday, August 29th, a speaker emphasised the sensitivity of language when talking…

Sir, - At a seminar in the Glencree Centre on Friday, August 29th, a speaker emphasised the sensitivity of language when talking about Northern Ireland. He said that the description "the Six Counties" was both constitutionally incorrect and offensive to Unionists.

Danny Lynch's letter (August 29th) provocatively uses the description "the Six Counties", making it clear that the GAA remains locked in a tribalist time warp. It chose to miss a crucial point of the Good Friday Agreement: changes to Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution which will recognise that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and is not "the Six Counties". The Agreement itself also consistently refers to the northern part of this island as "Northern Ireland". The GAA is not alone as Sinn Fein and the Real IRA continue to provocatively use the words "the Six Counties", thereby rejecting the will of 95 per cent of the people in the South.

Yes, Kevin Myers, you are right. Our President should not attend the GAA finals as by doing so she would endorse the Anglophobic tribalism of the GAA. - Yours, etc., R. Bury,

Killiney, Co Dublin.