Madam, - It would be a pity if the recently announced staff reductions at the British Council's office in Dublin were to take away from the important shift in the emphasis of its work towards North-South co-operation.
As leading practitioners in this field, we would like to highlight some examples of the important work it has already been doing. Among these have been its support for: research by the Centre for Cross Border Studies on public services to minority ethnic groups in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland; the Anne Maguire all-island conference for young journalists with Co-operation Ireland; the publication of the two volumes of Britain and Ireland: Lives Entwined; the recent joint production of Hamletby the Abbey and Belfast Lyric companies; the first ever joint visual arts exhibition organised by the two arts councils; and various North-South sport and education projects.
Even with the hopeful events of recent weeks, there is still an enormous job to be done in overcoming the barriers to mutual understanding between the two parts of our island. Faced with cuts forced on it as part of a general reduction of the British Council's presence in European capitals, the council in Ireland has pledged to increase its involvement in such cross-border work, and to bring its offices in Belfast and Dublin closer together in doing so. It should be applauded for this timely change in its mandate.
- Yours, etc,
ANDY POLLAK, Director, Centre for Cross-Border Studies, Abbey Street, Armagh;
TONY KENNEDY, Chief Executive, Co-operation Ireland, Herbert Place, Dublin 2.