Sir, – In his description of the Loughnashade trumpet (Weekend Review, June 11th), Fintan O’Toole was entitled to claim that it did not mark “the coming of the Celts”. However, he jumps from that opinion onto shakier ground when he starts his note on the Keshcarrigan bowl (June 18th) with the assertion “There was no Celtic invasion of Ireland”.
Given how hard it is to prove a negative, readers who particularly admire this series would appreciate learning what evidence Mr O’Toole bases this assertion on.
The counter-argument is: could Goidelic, a Celtic language, have become dominant in Ireland by the early Christian era, unless many speakers thereof, or of an earlier version or of closely-related dialects, had come to Ireland over the preceding centuries. All such immigrants were Celts. Whether they came en masse as hostile invaders or were peaceful arrivals extending over many decades is immaterial. – Yours, etc,