Calls to boycott ‘sham’ commemoration of Royal Irish Constabulary

The Fianna Fáil Mayor of Clare has said he will boycott a commemoration service for the Royal Irish Constabulary and has called on An Garda Síochána to distance itself from the event.

Fianna Fáil general election candidate Cathal Crowe said the decision to commemorate the RIC is “revisionism gone a step too far”.

He was invited by Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan to attend the service which is due to take place in Dublin Castle on Friday week.

The commemoration is being held to remember members who served in the RIC and the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) prior to independence.

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The Royal Irish Constabulary was one of the first organised police forces in Britain or Ireland when it was founded in 1836 following the amalgamation of four provisional forces.

In April 1919, Dáil Éireann declared a boycott of the police and the mass burning of RIC barracks began in January 1920. Britain sent in the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, mercenary soldiers from Britain, to bolster the role of the RIC.

‘Personal position’

“This is a personal position, not a position of the office,” Mr Crowe told The Irish Times.

“I think this is revisionism gone way too far. I don’t think any other EU country would, if they were in our shoes, do this.

“I think commemorations are important but they are defined as celebrations of people at events and I don’t think there is any reason I can think of why the RIC would be celebrated in this way.”

“I was reflecting on the decision and realised that on the mayor’s chain, where each previous mayor has a medallion, several of those on the chain fought either politically or militarily for Irish independence and to wear that chain at an event such as that would be a betrayal of what they gave to the county and country.”

Both Mr Flanagan and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris are due to address the event, but Mr Crowe called on An Garda Síochána to “distance themselves” from it.

‘Rewriting history’

Meanwhile Independent TD Séamus Healy joined the calls for a boycott of the event.

“This commemoration must be seen for what it is: a deliberate attempt to redraw and rewrite the history of the Irish people and the birth of the Irish State and it must be resisted.

“To participate in this sham commemoration is to support the blatant political revisionism behind it.

“Unbelievably, it puts our oppressors, the RIC, the DMP, the Tans and the Auxiliaries in the same category as those who died for the creation of the Republic. I call on all Tipperary people and other invitees to boycott this ceremony prepared by our government to commemorate our oppressors.

“To do otherwise would be to dishonour our patriots who fought and died for the Irish people in the War of Independence, those pioneers of freedom who inspired a nation and the world.”