Sir, - According to Mr Eoghan Harris (October 12th), the people at the football match in Croke Park on Bloody Sunday, 1920 were not machine gunned. The fact is that they were.
Neil Jordan's film has an armoured car, followed by two Crosley tenders, smashing through the gates and driving on to the pitch before opening fire. This exaggeration, whether made for reasons of dramatic effect or Hollywood marketability, is no more in accordance with the facts than is Mr Harris.
There were no armoured cars in Croke Park on Bloody Sunday, but one does not need an armoured car to fire a machine. gun. The principal weapon of this type used by the British forces in Ireland, in the period 1919 to 1921, was the Lewis gun. It was not renowned for its accuracy and, because of its tendency to jam, was usually fired in bursts of five or six.
Nevertheless, it was a relatively flexible weapon. It could be mounted on an armoured car, on an aircraft, a lorry (as was frequently done in Ireland), or used as a light anti aircraft weapon. It was fitted with a by pod enabling it to be fired from the prone position, or rested on top of a wall or parapet.
Some years ago, while watching a match from Hill 16, I fell into conversation with a man who had been at Croke Park on Bloody Sunday. "I was standing in much the same place as we are now," he told me. "The Tans came in there," he pointed to the corner near the Canal end. "They set up a machine gun and began firing. At first people did not take it seriously. Somebody said: `They're only firing blanks.' Then a man. went down in front of me and did not get up again. The realisation dawned on us, and the panic set in.
Those of us with an interest in history, and some small knowledge of the period, will probably find numerous inaccuracies in Nial Jordan's work. We will wish to correct them, and rightly so. But we should do so with facts, not with our own fables. As Mr Harris says: "Stories from one side should be treated with caution." - Yours, etc.,
Frankfort Avenue,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6