Sir, – The estimate of Irish Olympic medals per head as proposed by Graham Stull (August 14th) is largely correct given that seven medal wins were credited to our eight medallists across an island of 6.4 million people.
However, his comparison with Team GB is slightly more complex as Irish athletes legitimately represent both Team Ireland (five medallists) and Team GB (three), as corresponding all island and UK representative teams. On a purely geopolitical North-South basis the respective ratios read 2.21 and 0.65 medals per million of population respectively.
On a broader point, given that the Taoiseach and others have noted the unprecedented levels of support offered by Irish supporters to team GB Olympians and vice versa, isn’t it appropriate that we replicate this support closer to home and celebrate the successes of all Irish athletes, whether in Team Ireland or GB colours?
Official recognition of all our athletes and medal winners in an appropriate manner, perhaps jointly by the respective governments and/or through formal recognition by the Office of the President would represent further leadership in the ongoing process of building bridges across our island, while inclusively celebrating our sporting successes and cultural diversity. – Yours, etc,