To commemorate a police force with an intolerable record of barbarism is something that could only happen in an Irish state governed by Fine Gael sitting with its coalition allies and propped up by a hapless Fianna Fail. The Free State government has stated its intention to commemorate the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police at a ceremony in Dublin Castle to be addressed by Charlie Flanagan and Garda Commissioner, the former RUC ACC, Drew Harris.
Speaking after attending a previous ceremony for RIC members killed during the Black and Tan war, Flanagan said that they were, ‘… murdered in the line of duty…….. they were maintaining the rule of law….’.
No lie, those are the words he used, ‘… murdered in the line of duty … while maintaining the rule of law….’.
Charlie Flanagan and his party undoubtedly want to bury the vile history of the RIC. Well, let’s remind him and his colleagues in the Fine Gael led coalition of the history of the force they plan to commemorate.
This was the force that implemented what Flanagan sees as upholding ‘the rule of law while doing their duty’ by overseeing the export of food from Ireland during the Great Hunger when over a million died of starvation.
This was the force that supervised the eviction of thousands of impoverished people from their humble homes. Think only of one incident among many, of that here in Donegal in Derryveagh. Between April 11th and 13th 1861, a “crowbar brigade," helped by RIC and British soldiers, evicted over 250 people, most of whom became destitute on the roads or inside the workhouse.
This was the police force that gained its title ‘Royal’ for making war on the Fenians and the same forces that brutalised and murdered workers in Dublin during the 1913 lockout. It was also the force that identified those to be executed after the Easter Rising. And this was the force that recruited the murderous Black and Tans and Auxiliaries to assist it in its bloody war against the democratically elected Dáil Éireann.
That this obscene event is taking place is not only an affront to generations of patriots who struggled to end centuries of imperial tyranny but it seeks to question the very legitimacy of our battle for independence and sovereignty.
This is a shameful exercise organised by a shameless government attempting to rewrite history in order to exculpate and thereafter, rehabilitate the empire that oppressed generation of Irish people. The question must be why would they do so? Perhaps Charlie Flanagan and Fine Gael believes that by whitewashing the record of the RIC and the Black and Tans that they can do the same with atrocities carried out by their Cumann na nGael predecessors during the civil war.
Whatever their reason, it is totally unacceptable and the people of Ireland must let them know that it is totally unacceptable.
Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig is an independent councillor on Donegal County Council.
Where is the source for this? "‘… murdered in the line of duty…….. they were maintaining the rule of law….’"
ReplyDeleteIf that statement is true then it would mean the Free States independance came about because our forefathers broke the law and murdereded Black and Tans going about their lawful buisness' In otrher words the Irish people inflicted the wrong and did not suffered it!
I see this has been a move going back as far as 2011 when retired Gardai have lobbied for a memorial to the RIC "at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, final resting place of the leaders of the 1916 Rising and many other patriots." Apparently they want the monument erected "at an existing plot which contains the remains of 102 RIC men who died of natural causes."
ReplyDeleteI have no problem that a shrine to the RIC might be erected but not in Glasnevin; especially now that the langauge promoting such an idea involves criminalising all of those who took part in the War of Independance.
sorry had meant to add link: https://www.irishcentral.com/news/irish-police-officers-want-to-honor-black-and-tans-killed-by-the-ira-134231338-237741341
ReplyDeleteI see Fianna Fáil Mayor of Clare, Cathal Crowe, has made a very respectfully and modestly stated that it is "wrong to celebrate and eulogise" the RIC.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2020/0104/1104339-royal-irish-constabulary/
Micheál is completely right when he writes, "This is a shameful exercise organised by a shameless government attempting to rewrite history in order to exculpate and thereafter, rehabilitate the empire that oppressed generation of Irish people." The reason for this craven initiative must be an attempt by Fine Gael politicians to ingratiate themselves with their English peers and to take a swipe at what they see as gross manifestations of Irish nationalism. They shudder at those who "sleep with Provos" but have no trouble licking the arse of English patricians and their political lackeys.
ReplyDeleteAsking the Irish to engage in a blind revisionism that exonerates the Black & Tans and the complicit RIC is tantamount to asking the Vietnamese, who are forgiving to a fault, to forget the atrocities of the American GIs who raped their women, burned their villages, and massacred their families. What kind of insanity is that?
Michael Mahoney,
ReplyDelete“What kind of insanity is that?”
Just more of the usual manifestations of subjugation.
And its colonial corollary of craven opportunism.
Proof again that the Irish Revolution never really beat the British.
Like the American Revolution did...
Since it completely purged the British and their acolytes.
Which is why (ahem) “Evacuation Day” in the US is still celebrated:
https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/evacuation-day
Who will I vote for now , Sinn Fein abandoned their republican beliefs while running around after the royal family ...FF tried and nearly succeeded in bringing the country to its knees because of greed ...and now FG want to commemorate British service men who died tryiny to defend British rule I give up really I give up
ReplyDeleteWell worth reading:
ReplyDeletehttps://treasonfelony.wordpress.com/2020/01/06/are-people-being-hasty-in-opposing-remembering-the-r-i-c/
Boyne Rover
ReplyDeleteSeems the major Irish political parties are growing obsolete if they're not already there. Yeah, you're in a terrible bind. Those parties will have to evolve or dwindle or maybe even perish. Here in the United States, there's a good chance the Republican Party will take a permanent hit from the Trump era. The party may well become exclusively white and rural. Even if Trump survives this year, which is certainly possible given the poor competition on the Democratic side and the unlikelihood of the Senate removing him from office, the GOP might never achieve a broad appeal. It might go the way of the Know Nothing Party in the 19th century. We'll have to wait and see.
Shameful, rewriting attempt I say the black and tans , as they were recruited into the ric, should not be commemorated not their apologists and source, the ric
ReplyDelete