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THE EXPERT ADVISORY Group for the government’s Decade of Centenaries programme did not recommend the planned commemoration event for the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), one of its members said today.
In a statement to TheJournal.ie, EAG member and Professor of Modern Irish History at UCD Diarmaid Ferriter said that Minister Charlie Flanagan issued a statement yesterday which, in his view, “misrepresents the position of the Expert Advisory Group (EAG) in relation to commemoration of the RIC”.
He said that Minister Flanagan “should not refer to the event on 17 January in Dublin Castle as being as a result of our guidance”.
The commemoration has been the subject of some criticism over the past week. It aims to commemorate those who served in the RIC and the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) prior to Irish independence. Due to attend the event are Minister Flanagan and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris.
Last night, members of Dublin City Council voted to boycott the service. In addition, a number of politicians – including the Fianna Fáil Mayor of Clare, Cathal Crowe, and Fianna Fáil Cork Councillor John Sheehan – said in recent days that they will not attend the event. The hashtag #blackandtans has also been trending on Twitter as part of the discussion about the event.
Ferriter noted that in his statement yesterday, Minister Flanagan referred to the EAG as follows:
“As part of the Decade of Centenaries (2012-2023), under the guidance of the Expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemoration, I, on behalf of the Government, will host an event to commemorate the place of the Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police in Irish History.”
However, Ferriter clarified today the nature of the EAG’s recommendation, saying:
“The EAG did not recommend or endorse the idea of a formal state commemoration for the RIC in the manner proposed.
“It is not included in the list of events and themes we suggested should be formally commemorated by the state. What we stated was that ‘consideration should be given to the organisation of specific initiatives to commemorate the RIC and the DMP and to acknowledge their place in history’.”
This can be read in the published guidance from the group:
He said that what the EAG had in mind “was an academic event – a conference or seminar – that would look at the issue of policing in Ireland during the revolutionary period, including the role of and disbandment of the RIC and the foundation of the Civic Guard, which became An Garda Síochána”.
Ferriter said that the EAG “should not be used by the government as a mudguard to provide cover for itself when it receives negative reaction to its solo runs in relation to commemoration”.
The EAG has “consistently maintained that commemoration should be locally rather than centrally led”, said Ferriter.
“At our meeting in October we agreed ‘that the commemorative model recommended by the Expert Advisory Group to mark the centenary of the Soloheadbeg Ambush is the correct approach to the observance of the sensitive and complex centenaries that will occur in 2020′,” said Ferriter. This was a community-led event.
‘This approach advocates a leading role for local authorities in supporting and driving community-led commemoration, augmented with appropriate State assistance and participation.’
The professor said that the proposed RIC commemoration due to be held later this month “does not follow that model; what is being proposed was not put before the EAG and therefore was not discussed by the EAG”.
Ferriter said that the EAG “is not an executive body; is an advisory group”.
Minister Flanagan has been contacted for comment.
Event
This morning, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar again defended the event, saying it is “not a celebration” and is “about remembering our history, not condoning what happened”.
Yesterday, he said it is “regrettable” that people have made the decision to boycott the event.
“I remember 10, 15 years ago it was very controversial to commemorate the deaths of soldiers in World War I because some people felt that they shouldn’t be remembered because they fought for the United Kingdom,” he said.
“That has changed. We now all accept, or almost everyone accepts, that it is right and proper to remember Irish people, soldiers who died in the first World War,” he continued.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin criticised the planned commemoration but said that those attending should be respected.
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ESB made an operating profit of €445 million last year.
They can fix their own problems please.
@Leo Massey: Correct and this ripoff given the green light as usual by our wonderful government…..a country of 5 million making profits of half a billion…..unreal.
@Leo Massey: They’re state owned. The profits go to the government. The money still comes from the same place in the end.
@Leo Massey: you are talking about ESB Group and final profit after exceptional item, interest and tax was €60m
@Peter Hughes: Was at one point we had one of the cheapest electric in Europe then was increased to allow other companies to come into the market. Well done FF
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: and your proof for this claim?
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: Yes it was the cheapest electricity in the EU at one point. But “competition” was introduced. This resulted in the ESB as it was then being obliged to raise prices so that private competitors could undercut them due to the small scale of the Irish market. It also reduced the cost effectiveness of the then ESB due to reduced scale. It has delivered precious little to the Irish public except the illusion of price competition in a tiny market with a widely dispersed population. Thank goodness they decided not to privatise the national grid. Competition is usually a good thing but, in my view, electricity generation in a tiny market like Ireland is as close to a natural monopoly as it gets. So regulate the public monopoly and don’t introduce faux competition.
@John R: The market was opened to competition in 2009. The ESB were not allowed to lower prices until it had lost a significant amount of customers to other suppliers. This happened in 2011 and the ESB were allowed set their own prices. They also had to change their name to Electric Ireland at the time. https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/cheaper-bills-are-on-way-as-esb-sets-own-prices-26710661.html
People saying we had the cheapest rates don’t seem to be able to produce evidence. It was a state owned company that generated revenue for the government. I’m sure they were nice however and rat it at a huge loss.
Map and share data on any kind of pollution anywhere @ OpenLitterMap.com – the data is accessible to everyone as open data so citizens can make sure local authorities are doing their job.
The ESB doesn’t have the money to change these oil filled cables which have given great service for a great many years. Newer PVC type insulation cables have no maintenance whatsoever and if the Regulator gives money to the ESB to change out these old cables, the ESB would do it no problem.
@Wild Goose: Sorry but they hit this for years. They made 445 million last year!!!!
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: is that ESB networks that made that money or Electric Ireland which is a different company.
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: Also you do realise that since its state owned the profits are handed to the government. it doesn’t really matter if its the ESB or the government who pays for it
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: ESB Group made that figure. Also after exceptional items, interest and tax it was €60m for the Group.
@Darren Byrne: But will anyone be sacked for hiding this for years????
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: here come the uneducated, shouting ill thought out baseless statements.
@Vincent #SaveDaredevil: They didn’t hide it. They reported it to the body they were obliged to report it to.
FYI you can thank the Labour party for enacting the protected disclosures act 2014 which allowed Mr. McLoughlin his civil protections.
This is disgusting. A semi-state knowingly polluting waterways but deciding that it’s not in the public’s interest to disclose such information. Wouldn’t it be nice to have government organisations that lead by example. If the government don’t care, why should anyone else? A case of “do as we say, not as we do”?
@Shakka1244: The ESB has being reporting on this to the regulator for years. The reason this is in the news is that RTE picked up on it and the ESB are now taking to the EPA. whom they had not informed. The question is whose job was it to report this problem to the EPA? The ESB? The regulator? Or both of them? Or perhaps there is no statutory requirement to report it to the EPA at all which would seem most peculiar.
I fail to see the controversy in this. They used the common practice of the time when installing these cables, with non toxic biodegradable oils, newer maintenance free options are becoming available and these will be changed out over the coming years. There is no secrecy, only non awareness by the non technical public. I’d be surprised if the EPA if had not always considered and counted this as known source of soil contamination. That is a question that needs answering.
The continuous replacement at such a high level is surprising though, that might negate any biodegradability benefit. Have they worked out how much per year per cubic meter of effected soil? Or how low that needs to be effectively broken down? Or how flooding plays into it all?
Expect whopping great increases in electricity bills, have to pay for the new cables.
The oil filled cables are topped up from supply tanks at sub-stations.
Oil leakage was no secret but the ESB were hardly going to go boasting about it.
This looks like a flash in the pan sensation reporting.
BTW 1,000 m3 over 20 years over the whole country.
Does that count for much? I’d say there is more disposed into drains and back gardens every week.
They claim most was mineral oil, but these are old cables from when PCB was commonly used for electrical insulation and cooling:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_biphenyl
https://www.epa.ie/pubs/forms/surveys/PCB%20Information%20Leaflet.pdf
Ha like the missing 100,000 litres of JetA1 from #IrishAirCorps fuel farm that EPA, kept quiet about.
@Chemical Brothers: That be 3 Tanker loads very hard to hide 3 tankers.
Perhaps they should investigate the utter waste of money at ESB. While charging customers increases they regularly spend outrageous amounts sending staff away, nights out and bonuses.
Were we Irish born incompetent, or just blind to it?
@Denis McClean:
Olive oil has many uses but it’s is a fairly new phenomena here in cooking.
The extra virgin variety is great for a massage, it has been reported.
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