Irish nationalists are experts when it comes to exploiting
historical events for political purposes.
The recent rugby international at Croke Park between Ireland
and England was a classic example. Here was a sporting event,
albeit an important one, but for nationalist Ireland it provided
a golden opportunity to remind everyone, especially the English,
of alleged misdeeds committed against the Irish.
Large sections of the media, wittingly or unwittingly, assisted
the nationalists by spotlighting the event known as Bloody
Sunday in 1920, when 14 people in a crowd at Croke Park were
killed when Auxiliaries and Black and Tans raided the stadium
in a search for arms.
For a start, some press reports were entirely incorrect in
attributing the loss of life in Croke Park to "British
soldiers opening fire on the spectators."
It is important to point out that British troops were not
involved in the shooting affair at Croke Park. It was auxiliary
forces of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and it is important
not to confuse the police units with the Regular Army.
The shootings at Croke Park were terrible and the loss of
life was deplorable.
But what large sections of the media ignored, or played down,
was the equally terrible event which led to the retaliation
killings by the Auxiliaries and Tans.
The murder squad of IRA leader Michael Collins killed 14
British officers in their beds on the eve of the gaelic match.
Some of the officers were murdered in front of their wives,
in hotels and boarding houses across Dublin.
The IRA sought to excuse the slaughter by claiming that the
officers were British intelligence officers. That was true
in some cases, but in others, it was totally untrue. One of
the victims, for example, was an Army veterinary officer,
an Irishman from County Tipperary, who was not involved in
the security operations.
In fairness, a number of newspapers, both in Britain and
Ireland, did report the full story of Bloody Sunday, when
covering the background to Croke Park and its new use as a
venue for rugby internationals.
But the fact remains that Irish nationalism has a long tradition
of doctoring the facts when it comes to history.
Impartiality is not the hallmark of nationalism. A few years
ago, when the remains of Kevin Barry were removed from Mountjoy
Jail to be re-interred in Glasnevin cemetery, the Southern
media had a field day in recalling the execution of Kevin
Barry by the British in 1920.
It stressed the fact that Barry was just 18 years of age,
and pointed the finger of blame at the British.
Once again nationalist Ireland was prepared to downplay the
prior event which led to the execution. The simple fact was
that Kevin Barry, an IRA volunteer, was a member of a unit
which ambushed a number of young British soldiers collecting
bread from a bakery in Upper Church Street in Dublin.
Three unarmed young soldiers were shot dead in the ambush,
and Barry was captured at the scene when more troops arrived
on the scene.
A distinguished Belfast Telegraph columnist was criticised
by a reader of that paper when, in a recent article, he described
Barry as "a murderer."
What other description could be applied? Here was a man in
civilian clothes taking part in an illegal ambush in which
lives were lost.
Of course, nationalists and republicans will argue that the
IRA volunteers were taking part in the 'War of Independence'
and use that to justify their argument.
But the fact is that the Irish people did not give authority
to the IRA terror machine to murder policemen and soldiers
in pursuit of a political ideal. Those who unleashed violence
at Easter 1916, and leading to "a terrible beauty"
being born (as W. B. Yeats put it), undoubtedly brought the
gun into Irish politics and produced a series of terrible
events which have clouded this island right to the present
time.
All violent deaths are deplorable, and violence for political
objectives can never be justified. Trouble is that Irish nationalism
and republicanism has found it impossible so far to accept
that fact and seek to justify bloody and foul deeds which
have stained this island and bitterly divided its people.
All paramilitary killings in the 30 years of the Northern
Ireland Troubles were terrible and have to be condemned.
The IRA and its allies killed 2,600 people in these Troubles,
and Loyalist paramilitaries were responsible for 1,200 deaths
- statistics which are often ignored or played down.
In the 1920-22 period when about 450 people were killed in
Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland, a majority of
victims were Protestants.
Yet, due to the success of republican and nationalist propaganda,
the sad events of those years were portrayed as a 'pogram'
launched against the Roman Catholic population of Belfast.
If the true history of Irish history is to be recorded, then
the true facts and statistics must be recorded and accepted
by all. Unfortunately, the tendency of Irish republicans to
cloud those true facts, often leads to a false picture being
presented to the un-informed and a public which is often ignorant
of Irish history.
|
