Sir, - I regret very much the intemperate and ad hominem tone of Damian Smyth's letter in response to Peter Sirr's recent article in your paper. Mr Sirr's main point, as any reasonable person could see, was that the ghettoisation of Northern Irish citizens by imputed racial and religious affiliation, not to speak of the condescending parallel ghettoisation of women and people with disabilities (a curious conjunction I would have thought) is offensive to many, opposed to the inclusive, pluralist values it ostensibly aims to champion and certainly not in line with the cheerful and inventive multi-cultural practice of the Irish Writers Centre. I am surprised that the Arts Council of Northern Ireland should be so ignorant of the values and practice of an institution it supports.
It is of course possible to see merit in making specific provision for defined cultural groups - we do it all the time in Poetry Ireland, Peter Sirr does it all the time in The Irish Writers Centre. Equally, there is merit in making all of one's resources available to the entire community, without seeking to fragment the audience a priori, from the outside. Mr Smyth might have chosen to address these important questions in a reasoned way; he chose instead to construct a version of Peter Sirr, his work and values, and indeed his arguments, which nobody who knows him or who has read the article in question could possibly countenance.
The report form distributed by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland seems to Mr Sirr wholly inadequate as a means of measuring the performance of an arts organisation. I happen to agree with the broad outline of his argument on this, and I am aware that An Chomhairle Ealaion is attempting to devise a more sophisticated evaluation mechanism which is not derived from some hybrid accountancy-sociology model. This is the central problem which Mr Smyth, in his letter at least, gives no sign of understanding.
His gratuitous involvement of Poetry Ireland in his quarrel with Mr Sirr is also regrettable. He asks whether the work of a Chinese Irish poet whose language is Cantonese would have her work appear as a matter of course in Poetry Ireland. The organisation Poetry Ireland, among many other things, is the publisher of Poet- ry Ireland Review, a quarterly journal. To which entity does he intend to refer? Does he mean to ask would the work appear in the journal? The answer is yes, if the independent editor of the journal chose to accept the work, just as with anyone else submitting. Does he mean to ask, would Poetry Ireland organise a reading for a Chinese Irish poet? The answer is an unequivocal yes. If Mr Smyth knows of such a poet, I would be obliged if he would facilitate us in contacting her.
I would equally welcome an explanation from him of why he chooses to involve us in his quarrel with Mr Sirr. Could it possibly be that he is not aware that Poetry Ireland is an entirely separate organisation? He is certainly unaware of our pluralist ethos and practice, and it is shameful of him so misleadingly to insult us. - Yours, etc.,
Theo Dorgan, Director, Poetry Ireland/Eigse Eireann, Dublin Castle, Dublin 2.