Madam, - It is difficult to imagine a crueller and more unjust fate than the one which has befallen one of the major Irish poets of the 20th century, Seán Ó Ríordáin.
For no explicit or explicable reason, the poems of one of the country's most important writers are not available in any of the country's main bookshops, nor has there been any new edition of his poems in over two decades. To compound an already intolerable situation, the recent attempt by Greg Delanty and New Island to make Ó Ríordáin's poems available to an English-language readership was prevented and the translations lie languishing in a warehouse.
Again, as Mary Leland indicated in your edition of December 15th, no reason, credible or otherwise, was offered for this refusal to grant permission for the translations.
We, the undersigned, call upon anyone with a concern for the fate of one of the island's most gifted writers to make their dissatisfaction known and we call upon all relevant language and cultural organisations to take all the necessary steps to end a situation that is nothing short of scandalous. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL CRONIN, PETER SIRR, BARRA Ó SÉAGHDHA, Park Avenue, Dublin 4.