Varadkar stands over decision to hold RIC centenary commemoration

By Daniel McConnell and Kevin O’Neill

A defiant Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the Government “stands over its decision” to commemorate members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), saying it is a “shame” some public representatives are boycotting events.

Mr Varadkar said he was “disappointed” at the decision of some public representatives to boycott the official centenary commemoration of the RIC in Dublin this month.

Controversy has arisen over the decision to commemorate Irish men and women who were officers in the British security forces, including police, 100 years ago, with several mayors refusing to attend.

Fianna Fáil’s John Sheehan, the lord mayor of Cork, and Cathal Crowe, the party’s mayor in Clare, both said they will not attend the event.

Paul McAuliffe, the lord mayor of Dublin, has indicated that he will not attend, as he is hosting a civic reception for the president of Greece on January 17, the same day as the RIC and Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) commemoration in Dublin Castle.

A motion was tabled last night by Independent members of Dublin City Council in opposition to the planned event.

“We are firmly opposed to these murderous cretins being remembered in our city,” said Independent councillor Noeleen Reilly.

“The RIC and the DMP had an intolerable record of barbarism in this country while carrying out British rule in Ireland. This was the police force that brutalised and murdered workers in Dublin during the 1913 Lockout. This was the force that identified those to be executed after the Easter Rising.”Speaking in Dublin,

Mr Varadkar said he was “disappointed” by the decision of some council leaders to stay away from planned events.

“I have to say, I’m disappointed to hear that some people are going to boycott the event. I think that is regrettable,” he said.

“I remember 10 or 15 years ago, it was very controversial to commemorate the deaths of soldiers in World War One, because some people felt that they shouldn’t be remembered because they fought for the British. That has changed, thankfully.

It is right and proper to remember Irish soldiers who died in the First World War. And I think the same thing really applies to police officers. Police officers who were killed, Catholic and Protestant alike, who were members of the RIC in the DMP, many of whose families are still alive and remember them.

“I think it’s a shame that people are boycotting but the Government stands over the decision to hold the event.”

Mr Varadkar said those council leaders not attending should allow someone from their councils to attend in their place.

“If they want to take a personal decision not to attend, that’s their decision, but there may be other people in their city or in their county who feel differently and would like to have these men recognised and perhaps those mayors and those cathaoirligh who are not attending could ask someone to deputise,” he said. or sure that would be good he added.

Mr Sheehan, as lord mayor of Cork, said it would be “totally inappropriate” for him to attend a commemoration for the RIC, due to one of his predecessors in the role having been killed by members of the RIC.

“It would not be appropriate for me to attend while wearing the same chain that Tomás MacCurtain once wore, especially when he was killed by RIC officers,” said Mr Sheehan.

“I could not commemorate [the RIC] and then commemorate Tomás MacCurtain’s death a few weeks later. It would just not be appropriate.”

Mr Crowe, the mayor of Clare, called the event “historical revisionism gone too far”.

Galway mayor Mike Cubbard, an Independent councillor, said he would not attend the event, which he described as an effort to “rewrite history”.

It has also been condemned by Independent TD Seamus Healy and Peadar Tóibín, leader of Aontú, who said the Government is “wrong” to host the event.