A century after the ‘Duck Truce’, blood sports still shame our nation

There has been a tendency over the years to poke fun at the unofficial truce observed by both sides in the 1916 Rising to allow for the feeding of the ducks in St Stephen’s Green, with at least one recent newspaper article alluding to is as “a descent into farce.”

I would see it rather as a commendable example of simple human decency in the midst of bloody conflict.

The park keeper, James Kearney, deserves enormous credit for ensuring that his feathered friends were looked after despite the dangers that surrounded him on that fateful week. I only wish that this compassionate attitude to the welfare of non-human creatures was more prevalent among today’s politicians, who claim to honour the men and women who struck for freedom 100 years ago.