Sir, - The recent announcement of a possible union of two of the main scouting organisations in Ireland attracted considerable media attention, not only from quality newspapers in the Republic of Ireland and UK but also from further afield, including Vatican Radio. While media interest is always welcome, a number of the reports contained inaccurate or misleading information about Scouting Ireland SAI and the proposal to establish a new scouting organisation.
Contrary to some reports, the proposal to establish a single scout association was not as a result of the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland. The quest for a unified scout movement in Ireland has been SAI's stated policy for over 20 years and was again confirmed by straw polls taken at the start of 1998. Lest there be further misunderstanding may I also state that the recent successful election of an Irish nominee to the Scout European Regional Committee was not in any way connected to the Amsterdam Treaty. Likewise the description of Scouting Ireland SAI as being "the Protestant Scouts" is also inaccurate. Scouting Ireland SAI is, and always has been, a multi-denominational association which teaches young people respect and religious tolerance. While churches of all religious persuasions may, at local level, sponsor individual scout groups, the association as a whole is not affiliated or connected to any one particular church.
Despite a less than helpful attitude by senior Catholic Church leaders up to the late 1970s and a denial of access to local meeting venues by certain parish priests, Catholic parents in very substantial numbers opted for multi-denominational scouting. Scouting Ireland SAI is 90 years old this year and it is proud of its ability to reach out to people young and old, of different religious and political persuasions.
In wishing the peacemakers North and South every success, may I give your readers an example of scouting's ability to cross political divides? When the Palestinian Scout Association became a recognised member of the World Scout Movement it was as a result of the help, advice and guidance they received from the Israeli scout association. - Yours, etc., John Bohan,
Chief Commissioner, Scouting Ireland SAI, Nassau Street, Dublin 2.