Concerns about honouring British and US army veterans in Kinsale

I recently read with dismay reports in the Irish Examiner of plans to establish a centre in Kinsale to commemorate “The Wild Geese”, which is intended to honour present-day veterans of the British, American and other armed forces.

The term “Wild Geese” is a complete misnomer and an insult to the desperate and defeated armies of Sarsfield who, on surrendering after the Treaty of Limerick in 1691, the terms of which were broken immediately, were forced abroad on pain of death by the victorious English army of the time.

There is no comparison between these brave soldiers who were forced to serve in many foreign armies, vast numbers of whom plotted to return and fight again in Ireland, which many did in 1641 (Owen Roe O’Neill) and 1690 (under Sarsfield), and people who freely chose to sell their services to foreign armies, when there is an army here in Ireland who have worked abroad as peacekeepers for many decades.