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.