Fact from fiction

John Borgonovo, of the school of history in UCC, in his article in the Irish Examiner, on Mar 27, and Niall Meehan, of Griffith College, Dublin, in his article on the academic.edu website, last week, wrote of their reactions to TV3’s two-part history documentary, In the Name of the Republic, which examined killings and disappearances by the IRA in the War of Independence, 1919-21, and after the truce, in mid-1921.

They are both respected researchers and their articles are helpful. That time is well-documented, but the extent of what happened, and why, is not known.

It is believed there are files of that period in the Department of Justice that have not yet been released to researchers, all of whom agree would help if they were available now, 91 years after the events.

These files must be still regarded as sensitive and more time must pass before they are released.

When not all of the files from any important source are available, it makes it harder for researchers to separate fact from fiction, and, unfortunately, stories that aren’t true or proven can be widely publicised over many years.

It can then, sometimes, become impossible to know what is reliably true and what isn’t.

M Sullivan

College Road

Cork