Wrong assumption

Peter Mulvany (Letters, Aug 28) in response to my letter in which I opposed the retired Garda commemoration for members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, said “there are many Irish citizens who have a British dimension to their Irishness and vice versa; and no doubt there are members of the Garda who may have family links with the former RIC who feel it is their duty to remember the fallen”.

I am an Irish citizen, with not just a British dimension to my Irishness, but also a Protestant dimension to my faith.

This does not mean that I feel duty-bound to condone, justify, defend or associate myself with the brutality of the RIC or their colleagues in the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries. I believe that the sole criteria to influence our morality, ethics, values and standards, is right and wrong, not political, religious or family associations.

Mr Mulvany’s statement to that effect is an outrageous assumption that ‘having a British dimension to ones Irishness’ implies unequivocal support for, or condoning of, RIC and Black and Tan atrocities which were anathema and repugnant to civilised behaviour.

Tom Cooper

Knocklyon

Dublin 16