Our violent connections

Kevin Vickers must be the only Sergeant-at-arms in history to live up to that title (when he shot an armed intruder in the Canadian parliament in 2014).

But his wrestling-to-the-ground of some republican at a military ceremony, in Dublin, is a reminder of connections between Ireland and Canada, albeit violent.

In Canada in the 19th century, Thomas D’Arcy McGee was a famous politician, especially as a Father of Canadian Confederation. There is a statue of him outside the Canadian parliament. He was a Catholic Irishman and originally supported the Fenians, but then rejected them.

And that is why he was shot dead by Patrick J. Whelan.

Do the Irish appreciate how much that murder helped to free Ireland?

Frank Desmond

Evergreen Road

Cork