Professor John McCafferty:

That is just me being clever while I think about something else. In my view the Book of Kells is not a particularly valuable manuscript in one way because the text therein is a book of gospels and they are two a penny. It is a rather nice manuscript but the most revealing manuscripts in Irish history are those that contain the collective memory of the people. In that instance, I could name a few. The Annals of the Four Masters are incredibly important because at the point at which Gaelic civilisation is collapsing in the wake of plantation - I am not as upbeat about plantation as Mr. Parsons might have been - the annals preserve the collective memory of Gaelic society. In addition, Seathrún Céitinn's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn is probably one of the most important of all Irish manuscripts because it essentially invents modern Irish. He is the Shakespeare of modern Irish. He gives modern Irish its form, verve and calibre.

To return to the Senator's distinction between the official and unofficial memory, the most important thing about the manuscripts is their relationship to one other. In other words, like people, one person of him or herself is of little consequence but people in their webs and networks are what make groups and collectivities of people, such as this nation, important. That really is where preciousness lies. One could say the laundry list of a 19th century Irish strong farmer could be conceived to be as important as, for instance, the Lord Lieutenant's invitation list. One could make a good case about those. Does that help?