A chara, – Congratulations to Cathal Crowe, Fianna Fáil mayor of Clare, for his principled decision to boycott the planned state commemoration service for the RIC on January 17th ("Calls to boycott 'sham' commemoration of Royal Irish Constabulary", News, January 6th).
The commemoration itself seems to be singularly inappropriate coming as it does 100 years to the month since the British authorities placed advertisements for the augmentation of the RIC with a new wave of recruits that would subsequently become known as the Black and Tans.
The involvement of the Garda Síochánain the planned commemoration also seems to be singularly inappropriate. The Garda Síochána itself, an unarmed police force protecting the civilian population, was one of the outstanding achievements of the new Irish State that emerged from the war of independence. The contrast with the heavily armed RIC that preceded it could not have been more marked.
I think the Government should revisit this ill-considered decision to commemorate the force that was answerable to the British government and was in effect their armed front line in opposing Irish independence proclaimed by the first Dáil over 100 years ago. – Is mise,
JOHN GLENNON,
Hollywood,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Commemoration of Royal Irish Constabulary or Dublin Metropolitan Police members killed during the War of Independence should be decided upon and take place locally.
This was done sensitively, and worked well, at two commemorations I attended last year – at Soloheadbeg in Co Tipperary and at Limerick City Hall honouring Robert Byrne, the first Volunteer to be killed in the war.
Some may argue that, apart from their notorious G Division, the DMP was simply friendly neighbourhood “bobbies” or that the RIC was an early version of rural community policing.
However, once the first Black and Tans were deployed on March 26th, 1920, the fundamental nature of these forces altered significantly. They became augmented counter-insurgency forces deployed to crush the parliament and institutions endorsed democratically by the people in the general election of 1918.
The DMP and the RIC are not the ancestral forces of the Garda Síochána. That honour lies with the republican police set up to act in conjunction with the courts system established by the first Dáil.
There may well be certain circumstances where individual members of the RIC or DMP might be commemorated locally, but there is no historical or political justification for a State commemoration for these forces as a whole. – Yours, etc,
LIAM CAHILL,
Drumree,
Co Meath.
Sir, – Dr Brian P Murphy, OSB, expresses the same wholly negative views on the RIC (Letters, January 4th) as he did eight years ago (Letters, 5September 5th, 2012). Now, while it is everyone's right to argue a case, whether in a legal or a rhetorical sense, should that not include, even require, a willingness to hear the case for the defence? Diarmaid Ferriter shows such a willingness to see both sides before maybe coming down on one ("The Black and Tans", Weekend Review, January 4th).
“We cannot revive old factions/Or follow an antique drum”, wrote TS Eliot with reference to the civil war in England in the 17th century. As we enter now on a further and possibly even more contentious period of centenaries and commemorations, please let us take care not to sound like we are still beating any of those old drums that have caused us so much grief. – Yours, etc,
DONAL McMAHON,
Saggart,
Dublin 24.