Royal prefix undermines State’s separatist ethos

A conference on the disastrous effects which the Curragh Mutiny, or ‘incident’ as it became known, of 1914 had on British army discipline was held recently at the Curragh army camp, which is today the headquarters of the Irish Defence Forces.

The conference was attended by Irish and British historians and it emerged that 58 British Army officers threatening to mutiny, might be given the option of resigning their commissions or even accept dismissal rather than be sent north to coerce Ulster to accept Home Rule.

A century later a second Curragh ‘incident’ occurred and again the government, albeit an Irish government, failed to defend the ethos and values of the state.

I refer to the decision taken by members of the Curragh Golf Club at their last annual general meeting to restore the ‘royal’ prefix to their title. Records show that the club was granted the title ‘Royal’ in September 1910 by King George V. The ‘Royal’ Curragh golf course is adjacent to the military barracks, and the captaincy of the club has been shared bi-annually between civilian and Irish military members since 1922.

Despite our rejection of monarchism and the establishment of the Republic in 1949, we still have a number of Irish-based institutions whose names include a “royal” prefix like the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, and the Royal Dublin Society. However, I respect these organisations and recognise the valuable contribution they make to Irish national life. The fact that they have a “royal” prefix is merely a residue of our colonial past. However, this is not the case with the Curragh Golf Club. The self-conferring of this ‘royal’ title is an attack on the republican and egalitarian ethos of this state.

The fact that the Irish Defence Forces were party to the re-introduction of this royal prefix further undermines and devalues the separatist ethos of the Irish State.

Tom Cooper

Templeogue

Dublin 6w