The decision by the Dublin Government to defer their planned commemorative event for the Royal Irish Constabulary should in no way be seen as a sign that they intend to abandon this reprehensible project.
The mindset that devised this event is partitionist to the core and runs deep across the entire body politic of the Twenty-Six County State. It is also a clear indicator as to the strategic position that State will take as talks of Irish Unity come to the fore in this post Brexit era.
When the centenaries of major political and military events in Irish history came to pass Irish republicans knew, that to mark those events true to their objectives, would create huge difficulties for any Dublin administration. In an attempt to offset these difficulties Dublin endeavoured to dilute events like the 1916 Rising by immersing them in a hodgepodge of other centenaries such as the First World War and the passing of the Home Rule Bill in the Westminster Parliament.
The narrative which pervades amongst them is that this period of our history is ‘complicated’ and that in order to facilitate ‘reconciliation’ on the island a softly understated approach should be taken to mark these seminal events.
Let us be clear; there is nothing complicated about such history as those who made it, both sides of it, brought clarity of choice to the Irish people and continue to do so. The Proclamation declares that Irish sovereignty is inalienable and indefeasible. The Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Army were the forces which established and defended Dáil Eireann as mandated by the democratic will of the Irish people.
The forces which arraigned against them, the armed representatives of the Home Rule Movement, included the British Army, the RIC, the Black and Tans, the Auxiliaries, the Free State Army and in later years the RUC and the PNSI.
The Irish people once again face the choice of sovereignty or Home Rule. British Parliamentary activity in Ireland has been disastrous for all the people of the island. As Irish republicans we reiterate that those great visionaries who occupied the GPO in 1916 were right in clear and simple terms. These are whom we should honour and commemorate and not those who brought murder and mayhem to suppress our right to national sovereignty.
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