Yes, Leo, our vicious Civil War was very ‘downbeat’ – but we cannot ignore it

OUR Taoiseach is regularly accused of being overly fixated on spin but his comments on the Civil War last week have taken this to an astonishing new level with Mr Varadkar now seeking to apply his brand of positive public relations to our nation’s history. Last Wednesday evening – at an event organised to mark the 69th anniversary of the Republic of Ireland act – the Taoiseach decided to fly a little political kite before the Fine Gael faithful.

During his address Mr Varadkar suggested that it might be a nice way to bring the curtain down on Ireland’s ongoing ‘Decade of Centenaries’ by celebrating the anniversary of the official declaration of the Irish Republic in 1949.

Leaving aside the fact that ending the ‘Decade of Centenaries’ with a 75th anniversary sounds ridiculous, the Taoiseach provided his audience with a slice of truly astounding rationale to support his proposal.

According to the Taoiseach, we shouldn’t end our centenary celebrations by recognising the end of the Civil War – a conflict that claimed somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 lives – as that would be ‘downbeat’.

Yes it would, and it should be.

The legacies of the Civil War remain with us to this day – not least in the very existence of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil – and one can safely say that the vicious conflict did far more to shape modern Ireland than the 1916 Rising ever did.

Mr Varadkar’s claim that celebrating the 1949 declaration would be more ‘upbeat and optimistic’ is true, but it is also grossly insulting to the men and women who fought and died in the horrendous conflict.

This is Ireland’s ‘Decade of Centenaries’. If Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael want to celebrate the centenary of the Republic they can do it in 2049.

During his speech Mr Varadkar also insisted that he didn’t want any anniversary celebrations to be party political.

It was odd then that he soon went on to highlight the fact that it was a Fine Gael Taoiseach, John A Costello, who had declared the Republic in 1949.

His bi-partisan attitude to anniversaries did not extend to mentioning that the Republic of Ireland act had originally been drafted on the orders of Mr Costello’s predecessor – and Fine Gael’s bête-noire – Éamon de Valera.

The Taoiseach’s suggestion is not entirely without merit but perhaps the Government’s soon to be shelved Strategic Communications Unit could consider a few alternative dates.

Perhaps the centenary of the Free State January 2022? If the events don’t have to be centenaries, then what about the 85th anniversary of the 1937 Constitution which also falls in 2022?

There’s also the 85th anniversary of the 1936 External Relations Act which saw the King of England’s role as Irish head of state formally handed to our President.

On mature recollection – considering the President in question was Fianna Fáil’s Sean T O’Kelly – that last suggestion might not suit Fine Gael’s supposedly bi-partisan party planners.