‘I think it’s wrong to celebrate and eulogise an organisation that was the strong-arm of the British state in Ireland.”
The Mayor of Clare will boycott the forthcoming commemoration service for the Royal Irish Constabulary, describing the event as “historical revisionism gone too far”.
Cathal Crowe was invited by the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to attend the service on 17 January. The event is part of the State programme to mark the decade of centenaries.
The commemoration is being held in Dublin Castle and it’s being done to remember those who served in the RIC and the Dublin Metropolitan Police prior to independence.
However, Crowe said it is “wrong to celebrate and eulogise” the RIC because he feels that they’re “an organisation that was the strong-arm of the British state in Ireland”.
The Minister for Justice and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris are due to address the event.
In a statement that was posted to his Facebook page, Mayor Crowe said: “In the main, I think all of the Government’s State commemorations have been apt and tasteful, but I see the commemoration of the RIC as a step too far.
“I don’t hold any ill feeling towards the individual men who served in the RIC Division of Clare – many of them were decent people who were guided by the their strong civic and law-abiding principles. I do, however, think it’s wrong to celebrate and eulogise (I consider “commemorate” to be a verb with positive connotations) an organisation that was the strong-arm of the British state in Ireland.
“The RIC joined army and auxiliaries (Black & Tans) in search parties and raids that resulted in our country-people being killed/tortured or having their homes torched. In the 1800s, the RIC were present with battering rams as poor Irish tenants were forcefully evicted from their ramshackle homes.”
The RIC was established in 1836 and disbanded after Irish independence in 1922. It operated in all parts of Ireland except in Dublin, where the Dublin Metropolitan Police was the police force during the same period.
Dáil Éireann organised a boycott of the RIC from April 1919 on and the mass burning of RIC barracks began in January 1920.
After realising that the RIC was not capable of defending British rule in Ireland, the British government drafted in the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries to fight the IRA.
The Mayor of Clare added that he’s a member of the War of Independence Commemoration Committee in his parish of Meelick-Parteen.
The Fianna Fáil politician also said that he has an issue with An Garda Síochána being involved in commemoration service.
Mayor Crowe adds: “A further issue I have with the state commemoration is that An Garda Síochána will be central to the entire event. The guards have my full and upmost respect but I don’t believe that historically or ethically they should seek to claim any form of descent from the RIC. The Irish defence forces see themselves as a totally distinct organisation from the British army.
“I honestly believe that Ireland, her government and her people have thus far sensitively commemorated all of the seminal events of the Decade of Centenaries but commemorating the RIC is definitively an overstretch. It’s also historical revisionism gone too far.”
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