Irish centenary commemoration of British police prompts angry backlash

The Irish government has come under fire from opposition parties and independent members of its minority administration for planning a commemoration of the British police force that fought against Irish independence a century ago.

The commemoration of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), who fought Irish rebels during the 1919-1921 War of Independence, is due to take place in mid-January in Dublin Castle, the former seat of British administration in Ireland and now used for many state events. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's center-right government argues that many members of the police forces were Irish and that some were sympathetic to the cause of Irish independence. It has also called for greater efforts to understand pro-British unionists in Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom.

But it has been ridiculed for commemorating forces that resisted the independence struggle that led to the end of centuries of British rule in what became the Irish Republic. "In no other state would those who facilitated the suppression of national freedom be commemorated by the state," said Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, the former political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that violently opposed British rule in Northern Ireland until a 1998 peace deal.

Some members of the main opposition party, Fianna Fail, have said they will not attend the commemoration, while the independent junior minister responsible for the venue where the event will be held said on Tuesday it should be postponed. Defending the plans, Varadkar said on Twitter on Tuesday: "The commemoration is not a celebration. It's about remembering our history, not condoning what happened."

RESPECTING ALL TRADITIONS "We should respect all traditions on our island and be mature enough as a state to acknowledge all aspects of our past," Varadkar said.

The dispute comes amid increasing calls, led by Sinn Fein, for a referendum to end the nearly century-old partition of the island and reunite Northern Ireland, with its Protestant majority, with the mainly Roman Catholic south. Opponents of the government's plan are particularly sensitive to any acknowledgment of the Auxiliaries and Black and Tans, the RIC's special reserve and paramilitary units recruited from Britain who is still reviled in Ireland a century later.

These groups, who were accused of burning towns, villages and most infamously large parts of Cork, Ireland's second-largest city, will not be commemorated at the event, Irish Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said in a statement.