Echoes of gunshot dim as Civil War foes rekindle old love

They sat calmly side by side, descendants of people who were opponents in a turbulent and bitter period in Irish history.

Fianna Fáil councillor Thomas McEllistrim, whose grandfather of the same name was a key IRA leader in the War of Independence and took the Republican side in the Civil War, and Fine Gael Cllr Patrick Connor Scarteen, whose two pro-Treaty grand-uncles were shot dead by the IRA in a Civil War atrocity, sat together in the front row.

The symbolism yesterday marked the end of Civil War politics in Kerry after Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael formed an unprecedented alliance to control the county council and elected John Brassil (FF) as chairman on a 25-8 vote, in Tralee.