With sunshine streaming through the window and Spring singing its arrival song, it’s hard to be anything but joyous. Covid, by and large, has been defeated. Brexit still lives and still causes havoc, but the island of Ireland has come to an arrangement that mitigates its worst features. On the RTE News the Irish army marched down O’Connell Street yesterday and the designated soldier read aloud the Easter Proclamation. Descendants of those who fought and died back then were interviewed and expressed their pride in their ancestors. Hope and History seemed to rhyme.
Why, then, did Mark Carruthers see the need to ask Mary Lou McDonald if she’d be telling Sinn Fein candidates to steer clear of words such as those uttered by Gerry Kelly, when he saluted IRA comrades who had made the ultimate sacrifice? Wisely, the Sinn Fein leader spoke of the honouring of all Volunteers, going back well beyond those of Gerry Kelly’s time to those honoured in O’Connell Street yesterday.
Carruthers could have followed up by asking if Mary Lou was equating IRA volunteers of our more recent Troubles with those honoured in O’Connell Street, but he didn’t. It’s possible he knew what most Irish people know: that the Troubles in the latter part of the twentieth century were more than similar to those of the early part of the twentieth century, even though you won’t get southern politicians saying that, with the obvious exception of Sinn Fein.
But they will eventually. Terrible deeds were done by all sides in the early part of the century, terrible deeds which led to the establishment of the southern state. Terrible deeds were done in the latter part of the twentieth century, deeds which led to Sinn Fein becoming the major party in the south and, if the opinion polls are to be believed, in the north as well after 5 May.
Sometimes we don’t appreciate how directly we can contribute to the history of Ireland. But anyone who cares about creating a new Ireland will step into history and visit a polling station on 5 May.
When we consider the sacrifice so many Irish men and women have made in the past, it’s surely not too much to ask.
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