Madam, - According to Kevin Myers (An Irishman's Diary, September 16th), "Michael Collins introduced cold-blooded murder as a political weapon into Irish life."
One wonders what history books Mr Myers has in his library. Surely the institutionalised, cold-blooded murder of the leaders of the Easter Rising were a political weapon designed to terrorise and subjugate the population of the time, as well as future generations.
In particular, the grisly slaying of Connolly sharply underlined the brutality and cruelty of the colonialist regime.
This was the regime faced by the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence, an empire whose name was a byword for murder, repression and tyranny the world over. An empire which had ignored for generations the democratic right of the Irish people to rule themselves continued to ignore it, despite Sinn Féin's overwhelming election victory in 1918.
The Royal Irish Constabulary were the "eyes and ears" of this repressive regime. Some three years before Michael Collins was even born, they proved themselves no strangers to "cold-blooded murder as a political weapon", when they opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Michelstown in 1887, killing three people. The RIC was a heavily-armed, paramilitary force whose primary function was the subjugation of the general population.
This was the same force that had brutally attacked the workers during the 1913 "Lock-Out" and which had been to the forefront of the vicious eviction campaigns carried out on behalf of the landlord class. In short, it was a terrorist police force whose methods were turned against it. To deny this is to contradict the facts.
But spurious logic and the contradiction of facts are Kevin Myers's fortes. He blames republicans for the "fact" that the RIC was unable to carry out its duties, or "proper policing" as he calls it. The central "fact" which appears to elude Mr Myers is that the RIC was not a "proper" police force in the first place, and had since its inception protected the colonial-classes' interests against the interests of the majority of the Irish people.
It is little wonder that its members were widely reviled as quislings and treated as such. Reading his column, however, one would think that its sole function had been the issuing of dog licences to an eternally grateful public. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN McDONAGH, Lennonstown Manor, Dundalk, Co Louth.