President should not have honoured British on the anniversary of 1916

What extraordinary times we live in. On April 24, the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1916 Rising, Michael D Higgins, the President of the Irish Republic, who occupies his office as a direct result of that pivotal event in our history, was busy in far off Turkey remembering members of the British army — the sworn enemies of those who fought for Irish freedom.

The same army that levelled our capital city with incendiary shellfire, oblivious to the welfare of citizens — men women and children alike.

The same army that executed 16 Irish citizens. The same army that had within its ranks an officer who executed pacifist Francis Sheehy -Skeffington and two innocent journalists in Portobello Barracks, having earlier shot a 15-year-old boy in the head.