O’Gara’s stance: the pocketbook history

ON December 1, 1920, the RIC auxiliary division based at Macroom Castle in Co Cork ordered that “all male inhabitants of Macroom and all males passing through Macroom shall not appear in public with their hands in their pockets. Any male infringing this order is liable to be shot on sight”.

It has been the habit of Corkmen to assert a right to keep their hands in their pockets in the presence of British authority figures ever since. The more often it happens, the more it should reassure British personages no harm will come to them and so it is not necessary to shoot Irishmen with deficient deportment.

This may explain why Ireland and Munster rugby star Ronan O’Gara, from Cork, kept his hands in his pockets when he met Queen Elizabeth, from London, recently.

Whether the historical basis for O’Gara’s stance was part of the IRFU’s defence of his actions (Irish Examiner, May 9) is another matter.

Niall Meehan

Offaly Road

Dublin 7