Madam, - I have followed with interest the correspondence concerning the neglect of medieval Irish studies. As a scholar working in the early field (Renaissance French), I am encouraged by the sympathetic response.
In 1999, the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies was founded in Trinity College to promote the study of the early period in the arts and humanities. Certainly, we take every opportunity to promote medieval Irish studies and complement the excellent work of our colleagues in the departments of Irish and Medieval History.
To this end, the centre runs a regular seminar programme and since 2001 has offered an interdisciplinary M.Phil. in Medieval Language, Literature and Culture. A number of the modules are specifically on aspects of medieval Irish culture, namely music, old Irish poetry, early Irish law, old and middle Irish.
These structures may be seen as a positive move towards protecting and promoting early Irish studies, but the current debate is particularly welcome because it also invites us to examine attitudes towards the early period in other disciplines. In my experience, there is much to be done to counter an attitude particularly prevalent in language departments that early texts pose too many linguistic difficulties for undergraduates. Perhaps surprisingly, this is an attitude all too often expressed not by undergraduates themselves but by colleagues who are non-specialists in the early period.
It is undoubtedly goodwill and a generous and enlightened spirit towards the early period which will ultimately preserve the study of it, and dictate whether funding is directed to its promotion. The current debate suggests then that it is essentially the politics of academic life which need to be questioned. - Yours, etc.,
SARAH ALYN STACEY, Head, Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College, Dublin 2.