Anthony McIntyre shares his thoughts on the RIC/DMP commemoration controversy.

Irish Justice Minister, Charlie Falangist Flanagan, has found a new word for the embarrassing climbdown he was forced into over his plans to hijack the state for the purposes of a quintessentially Blueshirt project: the commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Straight out of Charlie's Chocolate Factory has come the sweet tasting word "deferral".

There was widespread reaction to Flanagan's plans to have the state venerate two institutions that did everything possible to prevent the same state come into existence. Amongst those opposed were some Fine Gael TD's and councillors. Among his own could be found those unwilling to stomach, if only for electoral reasons, his descent into an intellectual, moral and cultural relativism.

Last September Flanagan became the first Dublin government minister to attend a commemoration service for the RIC and the DMP. He did so and hopes to do so in the future because he believes it is the "right thing to do." He could have been more candid by saying he believed it to be the "right wing thing to do." ‘

The Flanagan logic is that the RIC and DMP were "doing their job and were murdered in the line of duty … They were doing what police officers do’. The extension of the Flanagan logic is that if they were murdered then somebody murdered them. Who? In the pantheon of murderers has to stand Mick Collins. Society is then led down the yellow brick road of moral equivalence through the government simultaneously proclaiming at Dublin Castle: here we stand to honour Mick the murderer and the men Mick murdered. 

Flanagan has argued that:

The horrific record of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries is well known. But there were thousands of other officers who behaved with dignity and honour in serving their communities. And we should not seek to airbrush these people from our history.

The RIC and DMP should very much not be airbrushed from history. It would be a grave revisionist crime against the public intellect if they were to be forgotten. They should be remembered but with genuine institutional abhorrence for their roles as agencies in the suppression of the Irish in the service of the British. They should be remembered but not with pride. And while it is true that the Black and Tans are not being commemorated, the Irish Times has pointed out that "neither can the legacy of the two police forces be disentangled easily from the Black and Tans or the Auxiliaries."

Without doubt there were people who served in their ranks who were decent, just as there are decent people in Fine Gael. I have never yet experienced an oppressive institution that did not have decent individuals within its environs. But decent people and decent policy are two separate issues and should not be conflated.

Moreover, Flanagan's stated plan to hold the event later in the year is just a face saving exercise to spare his blushes. It is dead in the water. There is insufficient public backing for the initiative and a tidal wave of criticism. Even Professor Diarmaid Ferriter implied a sleight of hand on the part of the Justice Minister when the latter claimed the commemoration was going ahead “under the guidance of the expert advisory group on centenary commemorations”.
What we stated was that ‘consideration should be given to the organisation of specific initiatives to commemorate the RIC and the DMP and to acknowledge their place in history' ... What we had in mind was an academic event - a conference or seminar - that would look at the issue of policing in Ireland during the revolutionary period, including the role of and disbandment of the RIC and the foundation of the Civic Guard, which became An Garda Síochána

Even here, use of the word commemorate is to lead with the wrong foot. If the state is to acknowledge the role the RIC and DMP it should be through a denigrative not a commemorative event.

Ferriter was more acidic in his criticism that the advisory group “should not be used by the Government as a mudguard to provide cover for itself when it receives negative reaction to its solo runs in relation to commemoration." Advice the mudguard Labour Party could also take on board given its penchant for being Fine Gael's condom.

Flanagan is not alone in his efforts to sanitise the RIC and DMP. The Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar claimed that said the commemoration:

is not a celebration. It’s about remembering our history, not condoning what happened. We will also remember the terrible burning of Cork, Balbriggan, partition and the atrocities of the Civil War.

Sheer bollix. If there was a modicum of truth to it we would expect no objections from the office of the Taoiseach were there to be a proposal for the state to remember Bobby Sands in an official commemoration that did not celebrate or condone him. If the matter raised its heads we would hear cries of criminal, terrorist from the same people who want to venerate the RIC and DMP.

If people in Irish society wish to commemorate the RIC and the DMP, they should be free to do so in their capacity as private citizens. Society should ensure that its government is not free to do the same. Let the state remember them, surely, as the Kapo clique who killed and died to the tune of Rule Britannia  ringing in their ears. 

Dropped By Deferral

Anthony McIntyre shares his thoughts on the RIC/DMP commemoration controversy.

Irish Justice Minister, Charlie Falangist Flanagan, has found a new word for the embarrassing climbdown he was forced into over his plans to hijack the state for the purposes of a quintessentially Blueshirt project: the commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Straight out of Charlie's Chocolate Factory has come the sweet tasting word "deferral".

There was widespread reaction to Flanagan's plans to have the state venerate two institutions that did everything possible to prevent the same state come into existence. Amongst those opposed were some Fine Gael TD's and councillors. Among his own could be found those unwilling to stomach, if only for electoral reasons, his descent into an intellectual, moral and cultural relativism.

Last September Flanagan became the first Dublin government minister to attend a commemoration service for the RIC and the DMP. He did so and hopes to do so in the future because he believes it is the "right thing to do." He could have been more candid by saying he believed it to be the "right wing thing to do." ‘

The Flanagan logic is that the RIC and DMP were "doing their job and were murdered in the line of duty … They were doing what police officers do’. The extension of the Flanagan logic is that if they were murdered then somebody murdered them. Who? In the pantheon of murderers has to stand Mick Collins. Society is then led down the yellow brick road of moral equivalence through the government simultaneously proclaiming at Dublin Castle: here we stand to honour Mick the murderer and the men Mick murdered. 

Flanagan has argued that:

The horrific record of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries is well known. But there were thousands of other officers who behaved with dignity and honour in serving their communities. And we should not seek to airbrush these people from our history.

The RIC and DMP should very much not be airbrushed from history. It would be a grave revisionist crime against the public intellect if they were to be forgotten. They should be remembered but with genuine institutional abhorrence for their roles as agencies in the suppression of the Irish in the service of the British. They should be remembered but not with pride. And while it is true that the Black and Tans are not being commemorated, the Irish Times has pointed out that "neither can the legacy of the two police forces be disentangled easily from the Black and Tans or the Auxiliaries."

Without doubt there were people who served in their ranks who were decent, just as there are decent people in Fine Gael. I have never yet experienced an oppressive institution that did not have decent individuals within its environs. But decent people and decent policy are two separate issues and should not be conflated.

Moreover, Flanagan's stated plan to hold the event later in the year is just a face saving exercise to spare his blushes. It is dead in the water. There is insufficient public backing for the initiative and a tidal wave of criticism. Even Professor Diarmaid Ferriter implied a sleight of hand on the part of the Justice Minister when the latter claimed the commemoration was going ahead “under the guidance of the expert advisory group on centenary commemorations”.
What we stated was that ‘consideration should be given to the organisation of specific initiatives to commemorate the RIC and the DMP and to acknowledge their place in history' ... What we had in mind was an academic event - a conference or seminar - that would look at the issue of policing in Ireland during the revolutionary period, including the role of and disbandment of the RIC and the foundation of the Civic Guard, which became An Garda Síochána

Even here, use of the word commemorate is to lead with the wrong foot. If the state is to acknowledge the role the RIC and DMP it should be through a denigrative not a commemorative event.

Ferriter was more acidic in his criticism that the advisory group “should not be used by the Government as a mudguard to provide cover for itself when it receives negative reaction to its solo runs in relation to commemoration." Advice the mudguard Labour Party could also take on board given its penchant for being Fine Gael's condom.

Flanagan is not alone in his efforts to sanitise the RIC and DMP. The Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar claimed that said the commemoration:

is not a celebration. It’s about remembering our history, not condoning what happened. We will also remember the terrible burning of Cork, Balbriggan, partition and the atrocities of the Civil War.

Sheer bollix. If there was a modicum of truth to it we would expect no objections from the office of the Taoiseach were there to be a proposal for the state to remember Bobby Sands in an official commemoration that did not celebrate or condone him. If the matter raised its heads we would hear cries of criminal, terrorist from the same people who want to venerate the RIC and DMP.

If people in Irish society wish to commemorate the RIC and the DMP, they should be free to do so in their capacity as private citizens. Society should ensure that its government is not free to do the same. Let the state remember them, surely, as the Kapo clique who killed and died to the tune of Rule Britannia  ringing in their ears. 

19 comments:

  1. The best and most naunced writing on this subject is this article by Fearghal Keane who draws on his own (divided) family history from that era.

    https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fergal-keane-ric-row-threatens-to-drag-us-into-a-dangerous-place-1.4133186

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    1. It is not actually. FK, whom I very much like, draws on an experience far too personal to allow any useful generalisations to be made. If we look through the lens of personal family history, we can justify or excuse anything on the grounds of brother's keeper. The RIC worked in the service of the repressive British state and upheld its writ in Ireland. It was a crucial ally of the Black and Tans. Whose granda played what or failed to kick someone he was evicting is secondary

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  2. Anthony,

    Well stated! Now just for laughs and public theater illumination go make your proposal for the state to remember Bobby Sands in an official commemoration that did not celebrate or condone him. So much for nuance because during the American Civil War brothers fought against each other but who but the most avowed or surreptitious racists would want to pay homage and honor to those defenders of slavery? Therefore, any Irish person who pushes this provincial line of pro-British crap are nothing but treasonous fifth columnists likely on the pay of MI6 or looking to be.

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    1. Eoghan thanks for that. It is as false as it is dishonest. The English rightly honoured Bert Trautmann but for being a goalkeeper not a member of the Nazi war effort. The Sands suggestions just exposes the lie of it all. The maxim of state what is has to apply. Imagine the Jews commemorating the Kapos on the grounds of their Jewishness but claiming they were only remembering them much like we might remember an illness.

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  3. What a very odd thing to propose.... I can't understand the reasoning at all. It is akin to Merkel suggesting commemorating the Gestapo!

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  4. Niall, or Stormont Nationalists commemorating the SAS. Just wouldn't fit "put that in your Pipe and have a smoke". A measure of their confidence -only over confident. Decent article and a lot of history my younger generation(s) never fathom.

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  5. Commemoration of the RIC is totally up Fine Gael's street. Same mindset as that creating the homeless crisis, the health crisis, environmental crises, the fast buck- sink or swim position. It's all anti-citizen.

    The people voted for them yet can stomach things like landlordism, cronyism, unbearable cost of living in Dublin, an 80 year old homeless woman wandering on O'Connell Street, people sharing a bed as a proviso on the rent, fighting in the courts against getting money owed to the Irish state by Apple. Fianna Fail too with the Golden Circle etc is getting much support in the polls. My point is, the RIC commemoration is par for the course. People voted for Fine Gael knowing full well who they are. Unfortunately, unless there is serious constitutional change the Queen can hob-nob with the ghosts of 1916 and the RIC will be lauded. Why not, didn't they carry out most of the evictions in the Great Hunger? It's all the same mentality.

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    1. Simon - a sense of weary despair comes through in that comment. Without an opposition that can be believed when it promises to make sweeping changes the status quo will continue. Fine Gael works for too many people, and for those it works for, the people that are failed don't seem to matter. Hope the New Year is good for you

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  6. AM, Absolutely. The Greens had so much promise and they pissed it all away so people might not believe any party will make a difference.

    I had just read a few of the annual Quill obituaries and it annoyed me that those mentioned aren't more widely recognised so a bit of despair might have indeed crept in. It came to mind again that some ex-combatants are given top quality PTSD treatment and others are left to stew, the imbalance in the justice system etc. It is unjust particularly when the British state was up to its neck in it. All these volunteers forgotten in a wider sense then dying one by one. Thanks for highlighting their stories.

    My pals say I'm such a pessimist the glass isn't half full nor is it half empty but there is no glass at all. I am working on that. Thanks for the good wishes. Happy New Year to you and your family and all those on the Quill.

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    1. Simon, the Greens were pretty much useless in government. Worse than useless even.
      Fine Gael did some good things with marriage equality and Repeal the 8th and Labour sailed on that Liberal ship to mask its sinking of the traditional left economy boat. But there things had come of time and would have happened anyway unless the Church was in power.
      The CPI made an interesting statement about the reasons behind the RIC proposal.
      The big problems in the South are such that few seem to believe that any party will solve them. There is a view that Homelessness and Health will remain much as they are no matter who comes in or what they promise before they come in. They are useful sticks to beat Fine Gael with but not good indicators of what parties' future intentions are. There is a Pat Rabbitte factor at play - tell people anything to get elected and then contemptuously wave them away from your five course dinner table in your favourite high class restaurant when they complain about you deceiving them.

      The obit season was a long one this time and a few stalwarts of republicanism in there too. I get the feeling of them having been used as solid rocket boosters to propel political careers and then jettisoned once they have served their purpose or get burnt out.
      One reason I suppose why I will never trust revolutionaries.

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  7. AM, surely your meant "politicians" as your final word. The real "revolutionaries" are the ones in the obituaries. Not saying you should agree necessarily with their actions but they were driven by a passion for justice and not selfishness. Their whole being dedicated to an ideology that shuns selfishness. Too many politicians are selfish. The unselfish get neglected. This isn't a lesson in why or how to be selfish but a problem in human nature.

    The obit season will get busier, peak and fizzle out. That is why the authorities came down so heavily on oral histories, to weaken their voice and speed to the time of fizzling out.

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    1. Simon - I meant revolutionaries in the sense of party people. They never succeed. And when they do they immediately start repression. I didn't see Alex or Pepe in the mode of revolutionaries but solid republican activists betrayed by the party revolutionaries who became career men and women.

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  8. AM, I understand, sometimes I take things too literally. Should've pondered over the meaning of the word.

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  9. Anthony,

    I agree the Greens in government turned out to be useless.

    But what can you do?

    Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

    So, maybe you can’t fight City Hall.

    You can only shit on the steps and run like hell.

    And, of course, write the truth as you see it like Mr. O’Malley did:

    “I have the bad and disagreeable habit of writing the truth as I see it, and not as other people (including yourself) realise it, in which we are a race of spiritualised idealists with a world idea of freedom, having nothing to learn for we have made no mistakes.” – Ernie O’Malley

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_O%27Malley

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    1. Eoghan - that is a great quote from O'Malley.
      Systemic change would seem to be needed but who can we trust to make it?
      There is nothing in Ireland worth a toss. We don't even have a party that could promote left reformism. The Labour Party are diabolical. And you don't need me to tell you anything about SF. The radical left is fractious and we saw how some of them behaved towards the theocratic fascists.

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    2. North and South it's as the poet WH Auden wrote in The Age of Anxiety (1947):

      “We would rather be ruined than changed.”

      It's not so much that people fear the unknown it's more, or so it seems, that they fear the loss of the familiar.

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  10. Eoghan, AM,

    Billy McKee said something in the same vein "the whole country needs overhauled with honest men and I don't know where you're going to get them."

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  11. Anthony,

    “It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.” - Voltaire

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