A chara, – Thomas Kinsella wrote Butcher's Dozenwithin a week of the publication of the Widgery Report. The poem was written in response to "Lord Widgery's cold putting aside of truth, the nth in a historic series of expedient falsehoods – with Injustice literally wigged out as Justice".
It was sold in pamphlet form for 10 pence, and nearly 10,000 copies were sold within six months. A single long poem became a bestseller in Ireland. The poem was reprinted in the Sunday Pressand the Irish Newswithin a few days of publication, and long sections of the poem were carried by the Evening Pressand the Irish Independent.
The poem revived the role of the poet as commentator on communal disaster. The form derived from Brian Merriman, and the ghosts of Ó Bruadair and Ó Rathaille stalked the lines. It met with a mixed reception. The critical response often mirrored the political stance of the critic. The ideologues of the Cosgrave coalition disliked it. Revisionist historians tended to dismiss it as propaganda. Sympathetic critics regretted that it was written in untranquil emotion.
It is interesting to read the poem again in the light of the Saville report. Kinsella’s contempt for Widgery was fully vindicated. Reflecting on the poem 20 years later, he wrote: “The pressures were special, the insult strongly felt, and the timing vital if the response was to matter, in all its kinetic impurity.” His moral courage in making a poetic response should be remembered at this time. – Yours, etc,