The tragedy of the Civil War shows the importance of political compromise

The tragedy of the Civil War highlights political realities in a democracy and the importance of compromise with political opponents, said former President Michael McDowell, an anti-Treaty opponent who was shot and killed by the U.S. Army as a prisoner of war during the Civil War. Speaking at a commemoration ceremony in memory of the IRA leader.

Mr McDowell, who is now a member of the Seanad Aliens, paid tribute to Commander Sean O’Donoghue, from Ballygiblin, near Mitchelstown in north Cork, who was a senior IRA official in some of the most notable actions of the War of Independence and Cork Civil War. expressed. Between 1919 and 1923.

“Today we commemorate the brave life and tragic death of Commander Sean O’Donoghue of the 1st Battalion, 1st Cork Brigade, IRA, on 28 September 1922, at the hands of his compatriots who captured him during the war. A brutal and bloody Civil War.

Mr McDowell recalled how O’Donoghue led the Cork City Active Service Force in several engagements with British forces, including an ambush at Dillon’s Cross, and said: “As a result, on 11 December “Today’s burning of Cork city brought terrible revenge on the innocent people of Cork city.” 1920”.

After taking the anti-Treaty side, he also said that in March 1922, when the anti-Treaty IRA captured the British naval ship Apponor and took cannons to Ballycotton, they captured a large amount of British cargo. He also recalled that O’Donoghue played an important role in. .

Mr. McDowell talks about the tragedy of the Civil War that broke out in June 1922 between Republicans on both sides of the aisle during the Revolutionary War, and how the division over the treaty had a profound and tragic impact on his family. I recalled Taka. .

“My uncle Brian Mac Neill, who also took the anti-Treaty side, was captured by Free State soldiers at Ben Bulben, Sligo, and, along with five colleagues, including TD Seamus Devins, who was captured He was immediately executed on the mountainside.

“Brian was only 22, his father, my grandfather, Eoin MacNeill, was a minister in the Provisional Government, and both brothers, who had served together in the 6th IRA Battalion in south Dublin, were both professional at the time. – Served as an officer in the Treaty Armed Forces.

He suffered the same fate as his uncle just eight days later when Sean O’Donoghue was captured by members of the Armed Forces and taken to a field after an anti-Treaty IRA ambush on Free State forces near Dublin Hill in Cork. I recalled what I had done. He was summarily executed.

O’Donoghue’s comrade, Seamus Collins, was seriously injured but survived the gunfire, leaving him for dead. He gave graphic testimony in the Military Court of Inquiry about O’Donoghue’s brutal murder, but, as in the case of his uncle, the perpetrator was never identified. He was held accountable, he said.

“One hundred years later, I believe that the Civil War, in which these atrocities took place, was a terrible and entirely avoidable tragedy for a newly independent Ireland. Both sides killed and were killed. The national army lost more troops to enemy guns than vice versa.

Mr McDowell thanked Fianna Fail Deirdre O’Brien, chair of the Seán O’Donoghue Memorial Committee, for inviting him to the unveiling of O’Donoghue’s memorial plaque in Ballygiblin, and said the lessons of the Civil War were clear. Stated. It must always decide the questions of Irish political life.

“Democratic politics has been described as the “art of the possible” and “the art of compromise.” For me, for all Democrats, and for all true Republicans, the practice of democracy is not violence. It is a solemn mission that is exactly the opposite.

“Compromise with reality, and compromise with reality, is never a dirty word in the political vocabulary of true democrats. Violence almost always breeds more violence. Issues must always be decided by a vote. No. No bullets. Extremism has no place in our democracy.”

In celebration of O’Donoghue’s courage, people said: ‘The courage and determination to uphold liberal democratic political values ​​- the sacrifices Sean O’Donoghue made – should be our pledge of gratitude.’ The Irish should vow never to meet such a fate. There is no inferiority. ”