How much thought went into the Government's request to the British government to pardon those Irish soldiers in the British army who were executed during the Great War? Not much, I hope. I would hate to think that such a fat-headed request could have resulted from a protracted period of reflection by all those double-firsts in Iveagh House, writes Kevin Myers
Because if we start with a retrospective pardon for the Irish executed by the British between 1914-1918, might we not expect a rather more generous approach from London to all our history? So let us visit the Connaught Rangers' mutiny in India, where we can insist that Ranger Daly be pardoned. Did he mutiny? Yes. Was an English sentry killed by the mutineers? Yes. Is the sentry to be pardoned for whatever he was shot for? Hmmm. Ask me another.
All right. Let us now ponder the other injustices which the British should now undo. We cannot blame the British for the murder of Brian Boru, which is something of a shame, but we might at the very least seek an explanation from the Danish ambassador. What does Copenhagen intend to do about this dastardly crime? Will it begin enquiries through its armed forces to see if any kind of redress can be found? Might we not demand a retrospective court martial of the Olaf, Sven or Cnut - the fitte! - responsible?
Can you hear something? A stirring in the ranks of the Fitzgeralds and the FitzGeralds. (By the way, how does one actually qualify for the big G?) For there is the small matter of Silken Thomas and his five uncles, all hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn in 1537. A royal pardon, and apologies from the descendents of Henry VIII, are certainly now in order. And while we're dealing with that particular clan, it's time that Lord Edward was pardoned for his part in the affray of 1798. Yes, it is a pity about Lord Kilwarden being lynched, but there we are: boys will be boys, and Erin go bragh.
The Fitzgeralds - capitalised patronymic or otherwise - are not the only Norman-Irish who deserve a retroactive deliverance: let the Plunketts take the crease! Poor Oliver of that tribe was given a greater travesty of a trial than the poor devils of 1914-1918 got, and a worse ending: like the Fitzgeralds, he was hanged, drawn and quartered. But at least he was canonised - as was his remote kinsman Joseph Mary, albeit in a rather secular way, for his part in the 1916 Rising. The very least that the British can do for him now is to pardon him, in person. And this of course goes for all of the 1916 leaders. I think the British ambassador should immediately betake himself to Arbour Hill with a spade and make his abject apologies there, with handshakes all round.
I actually don't know how many Irishmen the British executed between 1919 and 1921, but I do expect the government in London to find out and issue the necessary pardons. It gets a little complicated here, of course, because the first person to be executed by the hangman in Mountjoy Jail during the Troubles wasn't a republican but a policeman, RIC Constable Mitchell, a couple of weeks before Kevin Barry. Constable Mitchell was an Irishman, but he clearly wasn't a republican. So what is the Government's attitude towards him? Because if the British pardoned him, then might not one reasonably expect comparable pardons from the Irish Government to those of his colleagues who were killed by the IRA? After all, the first Dáil had endorsed the IRA campaign and declared it legal: so the Government that is the lawful heir to the Provisional Government might consider whether it has anything to apologise or issue pardons for.
What is the official line on the two captured Black and Tans who were thrown into the gasworks in Tralee and burnt alive the night Kevin Barry was hanged? Do we pardon them? And what about the hundreds of ex-servicemen who were murdered - oops, executed - by the IRA between 1920 and 1922? Are these deserving of pardons for whatever it is they were shot for? And what kind of pardon are we to give the Good family of Cork? The father was an ex-serviceman, so - naturally enough: the dog! - he was shot dead by the IRA. His son, also an ex-serviceman, was studying at Trinity. He took the train down to Cork and was on a trap on his way home for his father's funeral when he was ambushed and shot dead also. Do we pardon the Goods for whatever they were shot for? Do we? Go on, what's the answer? And do we find poor Mrs Good - probably aged about 130 or so now - and say sorry for all your trouble?
The British army executed some 26 Irish soldiers between 1914 and 1918 - a rather modest toll compared with the handsome achievements of Free State firing squads, which officially disposed of 77 anti-Treaty volunteers in a few busy months (my, it's all go, isn't it?) Does the Government apologise for those executions? But how can it do that, when for the most part it is the political heir of those who were executed?
In other words, it's all rubbish. We cannot revisit history with the values of the 21st century, distributing pardons, apologies, regrets. Nothing whatever is achieved by parachuting modern pieties into the bitter landscape of our past.