Offaly Cathaoirleach will not attend RIC commemoration

The Cathaoirleach of Offaly County Council, Peter Ormond has confirmed that he will not be attending the RIC commemoration in Dublin later this month.

The Fianna Fail councillor says he received an invitation to commemorate the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police from the Department of Justice and Equality last week.

Cllr Ormond confirmed that he declined the invitation as he was attending another event in Birr on the same morning but added that he also disagreed with the principle of the commemoration.

He also stated that he consulted with the Leas Cathaoirleach, Cllr John Leahy, who is also not in a position to attend.

On foot of the Taoiseach remarks on Monday, Cllr. Ormond circulated his invitation to all members of the local authority to afford them the opportunity to attend. 

"I feel as Cathaoirleach of Offaly County Council, it would be inappropriate to attend an event where we are commemorating the RIC and the Dublin Metropolitan Police," Peter said.

He stated that "the General Election in 1918 was a referendum on Ireland's right to self-determination and the Royal Irish Constabulary acted against the wishes of the Irish people."

"These people were involved in the suppression of the Irish people," he added.

"People joined the RIC or DMP for their own personal reasons and I don’t feel any negativity or bad feeling towards them. We can recognise these people, but to commemorate them as part of the Decade of Centenaries is not appropriate and I won’t be attending," he concluded.

The Taoiseach described as "regrettable" that many public representatives had declared their intention not to attend the event at Dublin Castle. 

In a statement, Minister for Justice, Charlie Flanagan, said: "The approach to the Decade of Centenaries has made clear that there is no hierarchy of Irishness and that our goal of reconciliation on the island of Ireland can only be achieved through mutual understanding and mutual respect of the different traditions on the island.

"The Decade of Centenaries has, to date, been characterized by an open-minded non-partisan factual approach to our history.   It has provided us with the opportunity to remember all of those who died over the period. 

"The office-holders invited to the modest and solemn commemoration on January 17 are invited in their capacity as representatives of their county, city or party as the case may be. They have not been invited in a personal capacity," Minister Flanagan added.

"There is no question but that there are very real sensitivities involved here. I acknowledge that. But there are sensitivities on both sides. The RIC has found itself on the wrong side of history. The intolerance that was often characteristic of Ireland in the past sometimes forced people to deny their own family histories and airbrush parents, grandparents and siblings out of the picture for doing no more than serving as an army officer or police officer to support their families. It should be noted that the vast majority of Irish people who served as army and police officers did so with honour and integrity.

"That is why it is disappointing to see some public representatives abandon the principles of mutual understanding and reconciliation in an effort to gain headlines. This attitude, combined with a distortion of the nature of the commemoration, is ill becoming of any public representative and represents a step backwards to a more narrow-minded past characterised by a hierarchy of Irishness.

"The complexities of Irish history has been highlighted and many people have explored their family history, often discovering ancestors who served in the army and/or police as well as playing a role in the fight for an Irish Republic and/or Home Rule. The historian, Diarmuid Ferriter, among others, has highlighted this in his writing noting that Michael Collins’ uncle served in the RIC while the author Sebastian Barry had one grandfather in the British Army and another who was an Irish Republican. 

"The actor Michael Fassbender’s great grandfather was in the RIC while Fassbender is also related to Republican leader Michael Collins. So many other Irish families share this complex history and these facts should be explored and acknowledged as all the threads of our history, within families and as a nation, make us who we are today as a people.

"The centrepiece of the Decade of Centenaries has rightly been the 1916 Rising which was commemorated with over 60 official events, including seven major State ceremonial commemorations. Alongside these commemorations, we have also marked the participation of Irish soldiers in the First World War – including in major battles such as the Somme - as well as key events in the history of the Labour movement, female suffrage and the struggle for Home Rule. 

"In 2016 the Government hosted a small and sensitive commemoration acknowledging the 125 Army officers who lost their lives in the Rising while a Necrology Wall of Remembrance in Glasnevin Cemetery lists all those who died in the Rising, including rebel combatants, civilians, police officers and members of the Army. 

"These commemorations are about our history, not our mythologies, and as Minister for Justice and Equality, I am happy to endorse the recommendation of the Expert Advisory Group that we commemorate the place of the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police in Irish History."