Reflect on fact that not all RIC personnel were bad

SIR,

While it is a difficult and sensitive topic, I think Ireland should commemorate the RIC.

It is important to remember that not all RIC personnel were bad. While the RIC (then IC) carried out evictions during the famine, they also helped distribute food. In most circumstances, it is harsh to hold police morally responsible for the orders of their political and administrative masters. In my hometown of Listowel, Kerry, the RIC disobeyed orders from Dublin Castle, out of loyalty and respect to local people. (The ‘Listowel Mutiny’). While the RIC committed atrocities during the War of Independence, so did the IRA.

Moreover, commemorating the RIC would have been highly symbolic. Why do we need a rigidly ideological understanding of our history? Do we not appreciate all its many shades and complexities? It is possible to tell the story of Ireland in a way that people from different cultures and traditions can identify with.

It is also possible to commemorate the RIC, while accepting the following. 1); British rule was an abject failure in Ireland. The state the RIC served was not a just one. Ireland has improved, on all metrics, since independence, and the objectives and ideals of the independence struggle were well worth pursuing.

And 2); the RIC were not a normal police force, having similarities with counter-insurgency and secret police forces.

However, while it is important we acknowledge these points, we should also commemorate the many decent people who served in the RIC. It would give their descendants, who are alive and among us today, the opportunity to have pride in their ancestors (something so important) and acknowledge that while the state they served was unjust and failing, many of them were good people and, in the case of the ‘Listowel Mutiny’, brave, Sincerely,

Jeremy Murphy, Listowel