Inherited beliefs - The past will never be forgotten

THE funeral of 105-year-old Dan Keating took place in Castlemaine, Co Kerry, yesterday. He was believed to have been the last survivor of the Irish War of Independence.

We might like to think that the impact of those terrible times — especially our savage Civil War — slips deeper and deeper into the shadows of our daily lives, but any honest assessment would have to conclude that our political system is still dogged, stymied and undermined by battle lines drawn so long ago.

It is still in the dead-man’s grip of the events that made our great-grandfathers and grandfathers enemies for life.