Let’s not romanticise instruments of death

WE seem to be hearing a great deal recently about the rather poignant story of John Condon of Waterford who joined the British army and was killed in action at the age of 14.

It was a sad event, but it should not be used as an excuse to rewrite history. People who join armies, particularly 13-year-old recruits, are unlikely to intellectualise their actions: John Condon was far more likely to have joined up for the adventure rather than to make a political gesture.

It remains a fact that the British army was frequently used as an instrument of repression in Ireland and there is absolutely no reason for us to feel any differently about it as a result of this story.

It is also a fact that within about a year of John's death, other Irishmen in that same army mutinied in India over events in Ireland in 1916: that was a political gesture and James Daly and his colleagues, isolated as they were, deserve acknowledgement for an act of considerable bravery.

Armies in general are, at best, a necessary evil; much of the time they are merely an evil we should never allow ourselves to romanticise ugly instruments of death.

David Roberts,

Gloundine,

Castlegrove,

Mallow,

Co Cork.