Madam, - The Western Writers' Centre - Ionad Scríbhneoirí Chaitlín Maude - has once again been refused grant aid from the Arts Council.
The centre is the only one of its type in the West of Ireland. To date it has initiated, among other events, a writers' residency at a Galway hospital, a variety of writers' courses, a modest winter festival and a publishing seminar.
We, the undersigned, wish to express our support for the centre and the hope that it will receive the funding it requires. The Western Writers' Centre is surely a welcome and necessary addendum to the cultural infrastructure of Galway and the West. - Yours, etc.,
ROBERT GREACEN, ALANNAH HOPKIN, IRENE GRAHAM, JUSTIN HILL, TONY O'DWYER, PETER SIRR, EILEANN NÍ CHUILLEANÁIN, MICHEAL BEGNAL, MACDARA WOODS, NIGEL MCLAUGHLIN, BOB QUINN, MARGARETTA D'ARCY, CAOLINN HUGHES, DECLAN MEADE, NIALL MCGRATH, ROBERT NEILSON, MARY O'DONNELL, ROBERT DAVIDSON, Dr EILIS WARD, MORWENA CANNY, Western Writers' Centre, Nuns Island, Galway.