Sir, - While I sympathise with Ulick O'Connor's disapproval of the RTE solstice broadcast (January 7th), I feel his letter reinforces some of the more glaring misinformation surrounding this event. Mr O'Connor worries whether foreign viewers "may well have concluded that the race that built the passage graves have been exterminated". Foreign viewers would be largely correct if they reached this conclusion - though extermination is perhaps too strong a word.
The neolithic tribes in question would certainly not have viewed themselves as Irish. Nor would they share any sort of cultural background with the modern-day people of Ireland. Genetically they would be without the Celtic, Norse, Norman and Anglo-Saxon influences which have all affected Ireland since Newgrange was built.
Unfortunately, the misrepresentation of the builders of Newgrange was also perpetuated during the RTE broadcast, with pseudo-Celtic music (Newgrange wasn't built by Celts) and appeals to speak Irish (the language didn't even exist when Newgrange was built). Even more embarrassing were attempts to link the event to Christianity. These errors are the inevitable result of a desire to see Newgrange as an "Irish" monument built by "Irish" people - a view that is anachronistic at best.
I imagine that those who originally built this wonderful structure were spinning in their (passage) graves. - Yours, etc.,
Tom Farrell, Norseman Place, Dublin 7.