The President, Mrs Robinson, has enhanced the value to relations between Ireland and Scotland during her visit to the Hebrides in celebration of the 1400th anniversary of St Colmcille's death. Taking the opportunity to revisit the issue of identity, which has been a hallmark of her term of office, she paid particular attention yesterday to the shared Celtic heritage of the two nations. As she pointed out, the fact that the predominant religious affiliation of those who speak Gaelic in Scotland is Presbyterian has much to say to those in the unionist community who value this heritage but feel excluded from it because of the proprietorial attitude traditionally adopted by Catholicism and nationalism. As she says, "it is surely time to insist that our past and our culture is rich, varied and complex, that it cannot be resolved into narrow, sectarian compartments and that it is open to each of us to claim what is rightfully ours".
The fact that the Hebrides have been at the forefront of the current Scottish Gaelic revival was underlined yesterday by the new Scottish Office Minister with responsibility for it, Mr Brian Wilson - who was formerly a trenchant advocate of closer links with Ireland in the pages of the West Highland Free Press. Announcing an initiative to develop improved contacts and exchanges between Gaelic and Irish speakers, he said that the saint's journey from Ireland to Scotland "stands as a symbol of deep cultural affinities between the two countries".
Relations seem likely to develop further in coming years as constitutional change in the United Kingdom proceeds. Devolution of power from Westminster to Scotland is bound to have implications for Northern Ireland. The Scottish Nationalists have made strong running with their argument that Ireland provides a case study of independent economic management from which they could learn many lessons. The European dimension of Irish cultural identity was mentioned by Mrs Robinson yesterday. As she put it, "the European Union has altered our sense of where our centre lies, allowing us to redefine not only in a healthy way our relationship with our large neighbour, but to see the worth of what lies at the margin.
Undoubtedly the same point applies to Scotland, irrespective of whether it takes a devolutionary or separatist path. One way or another Ireland and Scotland will find increasingly that they have much to learn from each other, in cultural, political and economic affairs. The attention devoted to Mrs Robinson's visit in the Scottish media is a testament to this fact. It should be reciprocated in the Irish media's treatment of Scottish affairs in coming years.