Madam, - I found last weekend's celebrations of the accession of the 10 new EU states slightly unnerving. It seemed strange to me that we should celebrate a culture-diluting homogeneity more than our own struggle for independence, the Easter Rising, whose anniversary passed on April 24th. It is hypocritical not to celebrate our own nationhood in any way, and then to celebrate the nationhood of 10 other countries.
The founders of our State would not recognise it today. On the television, far more English voices are to be heard than Irish. Our supermarkets are flooded with cheap English imports, as are our newspaper stands. As Barry Brennan (April 26th) pointed out, only four of our 15 Sunday papers are Irish-owned and published. In the Weekend Review of The Irish Times, book prices are in pounds sterling. It is vital that we hold on to our sense of nationality. Even if we are not being bled dry by emigration, we may soon face cultural extinction. - Yours, etc.,
IAIN Mac EOCHAGÁIN, Páirc Raithlin, Baile Bán, Gaillimh.