Playing with O’Donovan Rossa’s dynamite and his monstrous reign of terror from 1867 to the mid 1880s, is a very irresponsible policy agenda for this state to pursue. No liberal democracy on this earth would place such an evil man on a pantheon of glory.

Now that the state ceremony in Glasnevin is over, may I use your columns to say a ludicrously brief, but intensely sincere, thank you to everyone who participated in whatever form in the Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa centenary commemoration in West Cork over the last number of weeks – and most especially to those who have helped organise the various events (all of whom I hope to thank in person over the coming weeks).

The first of more than 40 events to mark the Easter Rising has taken place with the commemoration 100 years to the day of the funeral of revolutionary Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa.