Sir, - Having attended the Arts Council of Northern Ireland's recent conference in Enniskillen, I was interested to read Pol O Muiri's reference (Front Row, September 10th) to the comments by the new chairman of the Arts Council, Brian Walker, about Arts Council support for literature in the Irish language and the Ulster-Scots language. Those comments were welcome as they demonstrated a recognition of and a respect for both minority languages in Northern Ireland. I was therefore disappointed by Pol's question regarding writers in Scots and Ulster-Scots: "Who they?" There is a wide range of literature available in the Scots language and we are now seeing the start of a revival in Ulster-Scots writing.
In the past the Ulster-Scots language tradition was largely oral rather than literary. Nevertheless there was a significant amount of Ulster-Scots writing, much of it poetry. Earlier this century writing in Ulster-Scots largely died out and the language tradition was almost entirely oral. However in thepast few years a number of people have started to write poetry and prose in Ulster-Scots and I am pleased to say that the Arts Council has given grant aid to a number of Ulster-Scots publications. For this openness they must be commended.
It may well be that Pol is unaware of these developments but I would certainly encourage him to make contact with the Ulster-Scots language movement and I have already written to him with such an invitation. - Yours, etc.,
Nelson McCausland,
Director/Heich heid yin,
Ulster-Scots Heritage Council,
York Street,
Belfast 15.