Virginia Blankenhorn, Co. Kilkenny, writes:
Fintan Vallely laments the intrusion of ‘divisive politics’ into the recent Frank Harte memorial weekend (‘Singing the Ancestors’, JMI Nov/Dec 2007). Many people, he asserts, complained about the presence behind the stage of ‘as big a stars and stripes as any Bush redneck might fly from his five-litre SUV in darkest Texas.’ The flag was ‘inappropriate’, given that since the 1990s it has signified ‘the Western world’s contempt for one of the planet’s great civilisations.’ One assumes he is referring to the Islamic world.

I too find Mr Bush’s foreign policy abhorrent, but as an American living in Ireland, I object to Mr Vallely’s comment, which is especially uncalled-for in a discussion of Irish music. The Stars and Stripes represents not just born-again conservative die-hards, but people of all religious and political persuasions. It symbolises not only the economic might and military power of the United States, but also the hopes and aspirations of ordinary citizens – including, at last count, some 34.3 million Americans of Irish descent, some of whom are undoubtedly rednecked, SUV-driving Texans. 
Since 1975, when I first came to Ireland, it has seemed as if every Irish person I’ve met has either worked in the States or had a friend or relative over there. Dollars sent home continue to support the Irish economy, as do those spent here by some of the 34.3 million aforementioned. Most relevant in this context, Ireland’s musical heritage – exported along with so many of her citizens and nurtured in America – has returned to enrich the musical resources of this country beyond all calculation.

The relationship between Ireland and the United States is, like that between family members, deep and complex. Frank Harte understood and valued this relationship, something that the organisers of last year’s memorial weekend sought to acknowledge, and which Mick Moloney’s lecture on that relationship sought to explore. It was Mr Vallely, rather than the organisers, who brought the ‘divisive politics’ into the room.