Absorbing matter of Irish culture

The response from Tomai O Conghaile (Write Back, June 22) to my earlier letter about a proposed Celtic Cup was very disappointing. Having acknowledged the accuracy of my analysis, he then reverted to an old-fashioned Irish nationalist position and spoke of "our country's native culture".

According to his view, there is only one "native culture" in Ireland and he is not going to let the facts get in the way of prejudice.

Such a narrow mono-cultural perspective was the hallmark of late 19th century Irish cultural nationalism. Its leaders sought to create an exclusively Gaelic Ireland, which could only accommodate other cultures by absorbing them. That nationalist vision was reflected in the statement, 'The Gael must be the element that absorbs'.

With four centuries of history and heritage, the Ulster-Scots culture is as much a "native culture" as Irish culture and, if we are to build A Shared Future in Northern Ireland, it is imperative that we challenge Gaelic cultural imperialism.

Perhaps, when he is reflecting on this, Tomai O Conghaile might also reflect on the research, published in The American Journal of Human Genetics in 2004, which showed that the 'genetic legacy' of people in Ireland, both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, is actually pre-Celtic, rather than Celtic.

I have been accused of 'pedantic paranoia' and so, in case the writer thinks that this research was the product of such paranoia, I would point out that the project was funded by the Dublin Government under the Genetic History of Ireland programme.

Nelson McCausland, MLA Belfast