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The remains of the ten Volunteers before their removal from Mountjoy Prison. Photograph: David Roe
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There is neither the need nor excuse of the use of extra-judicial force by any group in Irish politics, according to the Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern.
In his graveside oration at the reinterment of the remains of the Irish Volunteers executed in Mountjoy Prison during the War of Independence, Mr Ahern said the mandate given to the Volunteers in 1918 by the Irish people to use physical force should not and could not be extended.
"They [the Volunteers] explicitly acknowledged the democratic legitimacy of the campaign that they had fought and accepted accountability for it," Mr Ahern said.
"On the other hand, it would be quite wrong to apply without distinction any such presumption to other times and circumstances and to quite a different situation, or to stretch the democratic mandate of 1918 far beyond its natural term."
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Despite the intense pressures created by the War of Independence, Mr Ahern said, democracy was being put to work and that Ireland, in the 21st century, had an obligation to continue that work through the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Ahern's speech followed the reinterment of the ten Volunteers in Glasnevin Cemetery, who were executed between 1920 and 1921.
The ten men were 18-year-old Kevin Barry, a UCD medical student; Thomas Whelan from Clifden; Patrick Moran from Roscommon; Patrick Doyle, Bernard Ryan, Frank Flood and Thomas Bryan all from Dublin; Thomas Traynor of Tullow; and Edmond Foley and Patrick Maher from Galbally in County Limerick.
". . .the memory of the Volunteers of 1920 and 1921 does not deserve to be burdened with responsibility for terrible deeds or actions of tiny minorities that happened long after their deaths," he said.
"People of common sense and goodwill understand all of that perfectly."
Mr Ahern also talked of the different minority groups that integrated into the newly formed Irish state at the time and said the Belfast Agreement has moved Irish history beyond physical force republicanism.
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The coffin of Patrick Doyle is lowered
into a grave at Glasnevin Cemetery |
"Revisiting the problems of relations between North and South and between the islands, and creating a new, just and equitable system of democratic government throughout the island has been the difficult task of our generation," Mr Ahern added.
"The Good Friday Agreement has moved us to a new stage in our history, but certainly does not mean we forget or repudiate those who founded our State.
"We all look to a future in which people of Ireland can conduct warm and friendly relations with each other and with our neighbours in Great Britain," he said.