Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty has today issued a call to Donegal’s Government’s representatives to state their views on next week’s planned commemoration on the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP).
The Sinn Féin deputy has said that the commemoration “should be cancelled outright”, while plans for a boycott are underway.
The event commemorating the place of the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police in Irish History was announced by Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan.
Minister Flanagan said the event is an “acknowledgement of the historical importance of both the DMP and the RIC, and is in no sense a commemoration of the “Black & Tans” or the “Auxiliaries”.”
However, the sensitivities of the commemoration and the historical actions of the force have led to backlash and boycotts.
Pearse Doherty TD said the event is “an affront to those who resisted British rule in Ireland during the Tan War, and that citizens who suffered at the hands of those that enforced British rule in Ireland are who we should be commemorating, not the RIC or the Black and Tans.”
“I am calling on the Government’s representatives, Fianna Fáil Deputies McConologue and Gallagher, and Minister McHugh, to come forward and clarify their position on this. The State’s revisionism will leave them on the wrong side of history,” Doherty said.
He continued: “The Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police were not merely police forces – as the Government seems to think – they had a specific role in upholding what was oftentimes martial law and suppressing the will of the Irish people for self-determination and national independence.
“This State commemoration should be cancelled outright.
“In no other State would those who facilitated the suppression of national freedom be commemorated by the State and I am calling on the government to cancel this proposed State commemoration.”
Doherty said that those who resisted British rule in Ireland and citizens that suffered at the hands of officers should be commemorated instead.
“If this protest goes ahead it will undoubtedly be met with dignified protest and Sinn Féin is organising for that eventuality,” Doherty stated.
