A chara, - I was not only shocked but also sadly disappointed to read Arthur Beasley's report (The Irish Times, July 28th) that the State is no longer to recognise the few significant surviving "courtesy titles used by descendants of the high kings of Ireland and chieftains to signify their erstwhile status".
Are we no longer publicly to recognise the fact that this country of ours had a nobility going back for well over a thousand years? Are we to acknowledge only foreign titles - including those of O'Neill, O'Donnell, O'Brien, O'Connor, O'Kelly ancestry - even if some of their descendants have been living abroad since the 17th century when they were forced to flee their homeland with the Earls, or later as The Wild Geese?
Are we only to recognise courtesy titles, now long outdated, used by French, Italian, Polish and Russian nobility?
Or are we only to recognise those given by the Pope, such as that enjoyed for so long by John McCormack, or by foreign monarchs, such as those enjoyed by Tony O'Reilly, Bob Geldof and a host of ephemeral actors, actresses, politicians and sports stars?
In a State which has no official honour to bestow on anyone (the oft-mooted Order of St Patrick, or whatever, has apparently no hope of realisation) honorary doctorates are bestowed, faute de mieux, by various universities, often on blatantly non-academic persons.
No, leave us our pride in our past and let us have a few genuine Irish chieftainries left to us, even though they indicate acceptance of primogeniture, the not entirely Gaelic system of election or selection.
The Genealogical Office can, I believe, be trusted to undertake all necessary research to accept or reject all claims to Irish courtesy titles. - Is mise,
ETIENNE RYNNE, Athenry, Co Galway.