United Ireland set back over RIC commemoration fall out, Taoiseach says

The cause of Irish unity has been set-back by Charlie Flanagan's mishandling of the axed RIC commemoration event, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

Minister Regina Doherty said Mr Flanagan did not mean to “make such a mess” of the event but said things should have been handled better.

Speaking in Dublin, Mr Varadkar said the backlash against the Government’s plan to commemorate the RIC marks a set-back on the road towards a united Ireland.

Mr Varadkar said the decision to postpone the event was the right one.

“It is my deep regret that this week, embracing that shared history; moving towards a united Ireland seems to me to be a little bit further away than it was before,” he said.

“I regret that this is a set-back for unity and a set-back for reconciliation,” he added.

Speaking to reporters, Ms Doherty said: “I don't think Charlie's intentions was ever to make a mess.”

“Maybe there wasn't as much consultation with regard to this commemoration as there should have been or could have been,” she said.

Former senator Maurice Manning has said that personally he would prefer to see an academic conference as the means to commemorate the role of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP).

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Dr Manning, who is a member of the expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemoration appointed by the Government, said that the group had recommended a simple ceremony in Dublin Castle, but “somebody lost the run of themselves and called it a State event.”

He rejected a suggestion that the Government’s decision to defer plans for commemorative events was an indication that “tolerance has gone out the window.”

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, the Chancellor of the National University of Ireland, said that the Minister with responsibility for the event, Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan, had “behaved with great integrity”.

However, Dr Manning acknowledged that the execution of what would happen had been wrong. While consideration should be given for an event to commemorate the RIC, he thought an academic conference would be more appropriate.

Mr Flanagan said that calling off the planned commemoration for the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) was “the right thing to do.

“There was a particularly hostile atmosphere, there was a lot of division - and of course the purpose of the event was to bring people together.

“This is about reconciliation, this is about our shared history,” he told the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk.

“Of course it's difficult, of course it's controversial - but this was going to be too divisive.

“I acknowledge that some mistakes were made, but I believe it's important that we continue with what was a rally important decade of commemoration.

“Who were the RIC? The RIC were Irish people like you and I and it's important that we remember them, it's important that we acknowledge them - warts and all.”

Asked how he would distinguish between those in the RIC who may have been associated with the Black and Tans, Mr Flanagan said: “That is the great complexity.