Sir, - I read with interest the letter from The Hon. Garech Browne (February 26th) concerning the Office of Arms. I believe that I am not alone in sharing his view that any legislation which would consolidate the position of one of the oldest and most respected offices of state would receive a broad and positive welcome.
That office has long given much-needed succour to so many of the dispossessed Irish of all ranks. From the Flight of the Earls, through to those descendants of Famine exiles who so desperately seek to consolidate their roots in this country, it is the Office of Arms that has afforded them the best hope of doing so. Any attempt to dismantle or diminish this office would be flying in the face of President Robinson's aspiration to cherish the children of Diaspora.
I find it reassuring that Garech Browne, who has long supported - in less grant-aided times - important aspects of Irish culture, including the foundation of The Chieftains in 1963 and, through his company, Claddagh Records, the recording of, artists of the calibre of Sean O Riada, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh and a host of traditional musicians, now lends his voice to the call to protect another great Irish institution. Let us hope that call will not go unheeded. - Yours, etc.,
Fisherman's Wharf,
Dublin 4.