Sinn Féin TD for Sligo-Leitrim Martin Kenny has welcomed the decision by the Minister for Justice to postpone a commemoration of the RIC and DMP in Dublin Castle next week.

Deputy Kenny said:

“I welcome the fact that this commemoration will not go ahead. However, I note the tone of the Minister for Justice’s statement and the use of the word “postpone”, which suggests that this event will take place at a time in the future.

“He organised it without using the agreed channel of the All Party Consultation Group on Commemorations and he is clearly out of step with public opinion on this issue.

“The RIC and the Black and Tans were a repressive force in this country and the people of this nation do not want to commemorate or honour them. It is an embarrassment to suggest that we should.

“If anyone who had an ancestor in one of these repressive forces wants to remember them or pay their respects in any personal way, it is totally appropriate for them to do so. However, the RIC and the DMP served the British on this island and if they are to be commemorated as a force, then the British can do it. 

“Charlie Flanagan should be aware that if he wants to commemorate them, he is not doing in my name or in the name of the Irish people.”