Sir, - Your issue of March 19th carried an article concerning Michael D. Higgins's National Cultural Institutions Bill which made no reference to the Office of Arms/Genealogical Office/Office of the Chief Herald, said to be a victim of that catch all legislation. For some two years, your letter columns have included correspondence questioning the wisdom of the Minister's efforts to reduce our oldest office of state to a subcommittee of a board of a semi state body, of which the Chief Herald of Ireland would be a non voting member.
It is hard to conceive of a plan better calculated to show contempt for ancient traditions which, for whatever reason, the Minister does not find to his liking. If he sees the Office as a vestige of monarchy, he would do well to consider that it has survived both Cromwell and de Valera, either of whom was capable of rooting out anything which might be perceived as a remnant of royalism.
The Office is available to all Irish people, born here or abroad, who wish to have their genealogies recorded. The keeping of genealogies in this country predates not just the Norman Invasion, but the arrival of Saint Patrick. The persons to whom this duty is en trusted have been accorded an especial regard at every stage of our history.
The use of coats of arms by the Gaelic Irish was adopted independently of any foreign appointed authority. Their distinctive symbolism drew on pre Norman, preChristian and possibly pre Celtic traditions. Of course, Norman, and Anglo Irish heritage.
To whom is a coat of arms important? To any with a strong sense of identity. This may be personal identity, family identity, civic identity or corporate identity. It is a means of identification. It does not raise one citizen above another, which would be repugnant in this Republic.
Irish heraldry, its precious records and their expert keepers all hold an appeal to anyone with a sense of living history; and a preference for that over the brand packaged for consumption in interpretative centres. Could such a sense be lacking in a Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht?
Because, sir, heralds do not blow their own trumpets, the Office has never advertised its own excellence. That must be left to those who have had dealings with it and have been delighted that there are those in the employ of the State who can so readily reveal huge erudition in matters of genealogy, heraldry, Celtic studies, medieval and modern Irish, English and French and the Classical languages.
That we should have public servants of this quality is little short of visionary. To seek to reduce the post of Chief Herald to a token membership of a quango is iniquitous. It is vandalism. It should not be allowed to proceed any further. - Yours, etc.,
Reilly's Avenue,
Dublin 8.