In what is yet a further effort to undermine and muddy the narrative of Irish history by conferring a bogus respectability on the actions of the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries during the Irish War of Independence, former garda Gerry Lovett has organised a church service for those RIC members killed opposing Irish independence.

As we approach a number of centenary commemorations over the next few years, most especially the 1916 Easter Rising, the 1918 General Election and the First Dáil Éireann in 1919, calls have been made to be as inclusive as possible as we remember these, and other events, in which citizens died.

YOUR columnist Ryle Dwyer (Irish Examiner, January 8) says that “history is not an exact science, so the current controversy over the Kilmichael ambush is unlikely to be resolved.