Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald TD, responding to the government’s plan to hold a State commemoration for the Royal Irish Constabulary on the 17th January has said “those who resisted British rule in Ireland during the Tan War, and citizens who suffered at the hands of those that enforced British rule in Ireland are those who we should be commemorating, not the RIC or the Black and Tans”.

Teachta McDonald said:

“The Royal Irish Constabulary and Dublin Metropolitan Police were not merely police forces – as the Minister for Justice seems to think – but they had a specific role in upholding what was oftentimes martial law and suppressing the will of the Irish people for self-determination and national independence.

“In no other State would those who facilitated the suppression of national freedom be commemorated by the State and I am calling on the government to cancel this proposed State commemoration. 

“It is those who resisted British rule in Ireland during the Tan War and citizens that suffered at the hands of the those that maintained British rule who the State should be commemorating, not the RIC or the Black and Tans.”