Letter to the Editor: RIC proposal - Not in my name

The current controversy re the RIC commemoration has awoken a memory of a story told to me by my mother when she herself was a young child.

When my mother and her siblings, mainly girls, as her two older brothers were “on the run” were getting ready to run barefoot through the hills of Cahirbarnagh to Rathduane National school resplendent in their starched petticoats, the door burst open and their house was raided by British crown forces.

The picture of what happened next is embedded in my mind as if I was there myself.

They were all lined up against the wall where threats and shouting frightened the young children, who were crying hysterically.

When no information was forthcoming, one officer held a rifle to my grandmother’s throat, and this is where the natural protective instinct of a mother kicked in. She very bravely, some (but not me) might say foolishly, pushed him away saying “Don’t you frighten my children”.

So Minister Flanagan if you think this proposal done on behalf of our Free State which was brought about by sacrifices made by our ancestors is done on my behalf think again.

-Mary Crowley

Kanturk

Co Cork