The Irish Minister of Defence has published a white paper on Defence. A conference to discuss it was arranged to be held in Cathal Brugha Barracks. It was formerly called Portobello Barracks, from which on 25 April 1916 Captain Bowen Colthurst of the Royal Irish Rangers led a murderous foray on unarmed civilians and to which he brought more unarmed citizens to be murdered. It was not the last such foray against unarmed Dubliners by British soldiers.
Amongst experts invited to discuss the White Paper were academics from British universities. I understand that RTE has commissioned a programme on the 1916 Rising which will feature Michael Portillo, a former British Secretary for Defence. In politics Portillo played hardball; a devoted Thatcherite hard man, competing with Norman Tebbit as a small-minded Little Englander. Tebbit had been described by Michael Foot in the Commons, as giving a convincing ” imitation of a semi-house-trained polecat. Quitting politics, Portillo came out as an urbane and cultured European. The irony is that he might have held his seat had he projected a more civilised strain of Conservatism, and even have become Prime Minister.But why does RTE think there are no Irish commentators with his competence to discuss the Rising?
I’ve just been watching a repeat of the BBC TV documentary featuring Brendan O’Carroll. who plays “Mrs Brown.” It deals with the murder by British agents of Peter O’Carroll, Brendan’s grandfather, in October 1920. For some reason the programme required the expertise of Charles Townshend, a professor of International History at Keele University in Yorkshire. Townshend explained military enquiries into deaths by saying witnesses were afraid that if they testified at Inquests they would put themselves at risk of being shot by the IRA.
If the professor believes that falsehood he doesn’t merit a university Chair. If he knows it’s a falsehood he deserves an Electric Chair. Inquests had repeatedly found British Crown Forces guilty of murder. Republican Courts had won the trust of Unionists as well as Nationalists in Ireland and even of some British newspapers. British rule in Ireland had been repudiated by the electorate in the General Election of 1918 and Municipal,County and other local election in 1920.and government of the people, by the people, for the people, established in the teeth of British repression.
Anyhow, most of the facts of Peter O’Carroll’s murder were public knowledge, not just in Ireland, but outside it. I quote from THE IRISH BULLETIN Vol 3 No 43 of Monday, November 1st, 1920.
‘October 16th Peter O’Carroll (aged 59) of Manor St., Dublin, murdered by members of the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary. At 2.00 AM a party of these auxiliaries knocked at the residence of Mr O’Carroll who went down to admit them. He did not return and some time later Mrs O’Carroll went down to see what had happened. She found her husband lying dead near the door. He had been shot through the head with a silent revolver. (It will be remembered that when County Councillor John Aloysius Lynch was assassinated by Auxiliaries in the Royal Exchange Hotel, Dublin, no reports were heard of the shots fired.) Some nights previous to this murder auxiliary “police” raided the house in search of Mr O’Carroll’s sons. They were not at home and the father was informed that if they were not at home the next time the raiding party called it would “be the worst for him.” After they had murdered O’Carroll these English Auxiliary “Policemen” fastened a card about his neck bearing the words “A traitor to Ireland shot by the IRA..” O’Carroll was unarmed.’
You’d think 95 years later Professor Townshend would have no need to pin British Crown forces tactics and crimes on the IRA? The IRISH BULLETIN report is part of a longer report “THE ENGLISH MURDER GANG IN IRELAND -One month’s work – Twenty-Six Innocent Victims”
The Irish Bulletin attributes the murders of O’Carroll and Lynch to the RIC Auxiliaries. They were actually committed by regular Army officers assigned to special operations. Auxies and Black and Tans have been traditionally blamed for many atrocities carried out by regular soldiers, cold-stone-sober led and urged on by their Officers.
I hope to write more on THE IRISH BULLETIN in further blogs. It’s a more trustworthy source than British academics and politicians.Those who contributed to it did so the peril of their lives and without payment.
Mr Portillo continues to pontificate about phytophthora infestans and would have us believe there was no other food in Ireland during An Gorta Mór.
So what did the landlords and garrison eat?
Read the first two sentences and thought I was going to read something about Ireland’s place in the world and a republican approach to defence policy and international peacekeeping. Instead it’s another skirmish in the war to win the past.
A Scottish woman recently graduated as an Officer from the Defence Force Training College apparently. She has a degree in international politics from St Andrews apparently and wanted to wear the “Blue Beret” in a peacekeeping function so she applied to the Irish Army rather than the British.
In the Future2020 restructuring the Royal Irish Regiment is moving from its assault role with the Air Assault Brigade to a sort of peacekeeping disposition as a protected mobility battalion within the “Adaptable Force”. The Northern Irish territorial contribution to the cavalry is going the same way with the newly named “North Irish Horse” joining with Scottish Yeomanry (light reserve cavalry) units.
If would be interesting to see if Northern Irish “adaptable force” units could be integrated with IDF peacekeeping units as units from other Northern European states.