Sir, - While the Northern Ireland aspect of Mr Bertie Ahern TD's speech at Arbour Hill was well reported, not so his clear policy statements that "Fianna Fail in government will ensure that history remains in its rightful place as a core subject in secondary schools" and his commitment to reappraise the contribution of women to the development of modern Ireland.
The Minister for Education, Ms Bhreathnach, has not answered his charge that the decision to drop history was motivated by attempts at social engineering or, at worst, technocratic indifference.
The German leader, Helmut Kohl, rightly states "that a country that does not know its past has no present and no future". Clearly in a rapidly changing world, the teaching of history provides an opportunity to achieve a sense of community identity and can help people not to repeat the futile mistakes of the past.
The public are unlikely to react negatively to a subtle decision to drop politically incorrect subjects' from the school curriculum than the more offensive fascist book burning approach.
The Minister for Education, like students sitting exams, gets no marks for leaving out critical information in her official White Paper on the future of history and geography in schools. - Yours, etc.,
Ely Place,
Dublin 2.