No room for Auxiliaries at Kilmichael

The committee of the National Graves Association would like to bring to your attention the on-going situation with the historic Kilmichael ambush site in Co Cork.

Two local committees, The Kilmichael and Crossbarry Commemoration Committee and The Kilmichael Historical Society, sought and received planning permission from Cork County Council to build major additions to the site. We believe that this site is of such obvious importance nationally that major additions or alterations should not be the sole prerogative of local committees and Cork County Council.

We are particularly concerned with the intention in the planning application (which was approved by Cork County Council) to build a commemorative area dedicated to the Auxiliaries who died in the ambush. Despite the briefness of the deployment in Ireland their litany of atrocities and abuse of the civilian population is legendary. From Bloody Sunday to the sacking of Cork, from the burning of homes in Clare to the destruction in Trim. So bad was their behaviour that their commanding officer, General Crozier, resigned his commission.