The War of Independence

In the war they fought, they had one support that could not be ignored. That was the mandate for independence from the General Election of 1918. They knew the people were with them. Dáil Éireann was formed from those who were elected, and who were willing or able to attend. When the Declaration of Independence was passed, the Ceann Comhairle of that First Dáil said to the Deputies present that they all understood that war would be the consequence of the Declaration.

They understood that. They were satisfied, if necessary, to fight to liberate the country. The big powers had said that it was for the small nations that the First World War was fought. The people of Ireland were determined that the principle of national self-determination must also be extended to the Irish nation.During that first session, the Democratic Programme, addressing the economic and social needs of Ireland, was also adopted, at the request of the Labour Movement, 'with a view to a general and lasting improvement in the conditions under which the working classes live and labour'.

These ten young men were executed during the War of Independence. The country was under tremendous pressure at the time. There was a united effort. Meanwhile, elected by the people, Dáil Éireann was developing, in spite of a war going on. Democracy was being put to work. Independent civic institutions, including the Dáil courts, were beginning to function. Before their deaths, the ten had seen the light of freedom. They understood that Ireland would be free and independent.

The ten men were Kevin Barry, a UCD medical student of 18, with roots in County Carlow; 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, County Limerick.

It is no wonder to the people of Ireland then that this day has come. Although we have difficulties of our own time, there is no fair person in this country but thinks that it is good that we bury these men with State honours here today, and indeed that it is time we did so.The Irish State today is discharging a debt of honour that stretches back 80 years. Here in Glasnevin stand the memorials to Irish patriots of the past two centuries, statesmen, soldiers, all those who contributed in many different ways to the onward march of a nation.

Nine of the ten Irish volunteers executed in Mountjoy in 1920 and 1921 belong here, in accordance with the wishes of their families. Patrick Maher will be interred next week in County Limerick.

This is a day that has been sought for many years, with the support of successive Governments. All of us wished this to be a unifying occasion, in accordance with the wishes of the families today, who have assented to the re-interment.

The men we honour belong to a period, when the entire national movement was united in a tremendous effort to achieve Ireland's independence that was desired and voted for by a large majority of the people. War, for whatever cause and whatever circumstances, always has cruel consequences. But every nation, both large and small, has a right to defend and vindicate its freedom in accordance with the will of its people. If an Irish national democracy could have been established peacefully, through elections, or by passive resistence, that would have been preferable. But a realistic reading of history shows government determination to prevent that, by force, if necessary.

The ten Volunteers executed in Mountjoy died defending and upholding the independence proclaimed by Dáil Éireann on 21 January 1919. The British Government of the day, who would relinquish control of this part of Ireland in 1922, were seeking in vain to maintain their continued rule by force, long after popular consent had been definitively withdrawn. Erskine Childers, who with Desmond FitzGerald was charged with explaining the Irish case to a wider international audience, stated that Kevin Barry was doing precisely what Englishmen would be doing under the same circumstances and under the same provocation, and that what was involved was 'a national uprising, a collision between two governments, one resting on consent, the other on force'.

The area of Ireland outside of six Ulster counties, having rejected the limited home rule offered by the Government of Ireland Act 1920, was ruled by a crown colony form of government with martial law declared in many places. The situation was not greatly different from that of the thirteen colonies, that went on to form the United States, when they decided to throw off tyranny in 1776. George Washington was a soldier-statesman, and the American War of Independence was one of the principal inspirations of the independence struggle, led by New York-born Eamon de Valera, Cork-born Michael Collins, who had worked for some years in London, and Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Féin.

The Irish struggle was a legitimate inspiration to national independence movements in the colonies of the European Empires, and in many cases curtailed the sacrifices for freedom that colonised peoples elsewhere would have to make. The Indian Congress leader Nehru wrote letters from prison about Ireland's independence struggle to his daughter Indira in the 1930s. Ireland has a right to be proud of its role in the liberation of oppressed peoples around the world, which has given us a continuing empathy with countries struggling to achieve peace and higher development.

Before the Truce, the Dáil, and the Government, all members of the Dáil, took formal responsibility as the elected representatives of the people for the actions of the Volunteers, and recognised them as their army. They explicitly acknowledged the democratic legitimacy of the campaign that they had fought, and accepted accountability for it. So those of us who are proud of our national independence should have no reservations about honouring those Volunteers.

On the other hand, it would be quite wrong to apply without distinction any such presumption to other times and circumstances, and to a quite different situation, or to stretch the democratic mandate of 1918 far beyond its natural term. Conversely, the memory of the Volunteers of 1920 and 1921 does not deserve to be burdened with responsibility for terrible deeds or the actions of tiny minorities that happened long after their deaths. People of common sense and goodwill understand all of that perfectly.

How the principle of self-determination was to be applied, particularly in local situations where majority and the minority were different from elsewhere in the country, was open to argument. But by 1920 it was accepted everywhere that a locally strong minority could not be allowed to block indefinitely self-government in the rest of Ireland.

Not everyone on this island, then or now, sympathised with or supported Ireland's independence as a separate and self-governing country. Minorities within came to accept and give loyalty to the State, and in time a broader pluralistic culture in place of toleration has developed. The ideals and experiences of Irish-Ireland and of Ulster Unionism were so far apart, as to make mutual comprehension difficult. Irish Nationalism itself took many legitimate forms, including the honourable, constitutional tradition, going back to Daniel O'Connell, which had greatly advanced the cause of self-government. In 1918, Sinn Féin and the Irish Parliamentary, Party Eamon de Valera and John Dillon, stood on the same platforms opposing conscription.

The Government of Ireland Act, 1920, was never accepted in the South, but was not a satisfactory settlement for other than the Unionist community even in the area designated as Northern Ireland, where it was implemented. Today, it is gone. Revisiting the problem 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 that our generation has had to take up, after much trauma. The Good Friday Agreement has moved us to a new stage in our history, but that certainly does not mean we forget or repudiate those who founded our State.

This State has abolished the death penalty, and lives by the rule of law. There is neither need nor excuse for the extra-judicial use of force by anyone today. The same is true of Northern Ireland, and beyond dispute since the Good Friday Agreement.

Today's ceremonies relate to the circumstances that led to the foundation of this State, and the sacrifices involved. We have much to be proud of, and the achievement, however incomplete, is considerable. We all look to a future in which the people of Ireland can conduct warm and friendly relations with each other and with our neighbours in Great Britain on a basis of equality and partnership, in an atmosphere free of force and coercion, and in which people of all traditions can live and cooperate together for the common good.