Sir, - Meath's great victory in the All-Ireland has set me thinking about, of all things, the reunification of Meath. As every schoolboy knows (at least in Westmeath) the territory of Meath was partitioned by Henry VIII in the 1530s, creating the counties of Westmeath and Eastmeath. Eastmeath jumped the gun early on by arrogating to itself the name of Meath. From that it was a short step to styling itself a kingdom and calling itself royal, when in point of fact it is no more royal nor a kingdom than Westmeath. After all, Malachy II and the kings of Meath for centuries before him had their abode at Dun na Sciath, near Mullingar, the cathedral town where indeed the bishop of Meath resides to this day.
But that is all by the way. The inescapable fact is that as a county Westmeath has not been a success. For starters the name was and is distinct disadvantage. Imagine a county called West Cork or West Galway or West Anything and being asked to get worked up about such a creation, not to speak of playing one's heart out for it in hurling or football. There was a faint-hearted effort in the 17th century to name the county Mullingar, after the chief town. But as a name that was no great improvement. As someone has said, shouting "Come on Mullingar" sounds a bit like trying to resurrect the dead. In short, Westmeath has remained a place without an identity, a sidekick of Meath, neither this nor that.
We Westmeathians are tired of failure. The whole 20th century has gone by and not a sign of Sam nor of th'other fellow. It is time to ring down the curtain on something which that reprobate Henry VIII never should have created in the first place. It is time that the counties of Meath and Westmeath were reunited - and what a fine county that would make, stretching from the Irish Sea to the Shannon, the equal of the Corks and Galways and Tipps of this world. The vested interests of county councillors, county officials and such like can be looked after by maintaining two ridings with two county councils, as in Tipperary.
I am sure there are many difficulties in the way of this proposal. But let the debate begin! - Yours, etc.,
Patrick Fagan, Ballytore Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14.