Unionist praise for Irish president over ‘all victims’ Bloody Sunday tribute

While the vast majority of nationalists spent the weekend commemorating the dead from the Dublin v Tipperary challenge match – during which RIC and auxiliaries suddenly opened fire during a search operation – President Michael D Higgins said it was also important to remember those killed earlier that day by the IRA.

Three of the dead at Croke Park were schoolboys aged between 12 and 14.

Commenting ahead of laying a wreath at Croke Park on Saturday, President Higgins said the events of that day continue “to be obscured or selectively recalled for various purposes”.

He said; “At the close of that day of such killing and injury 100 years ago, 32 people, three of them children, lay dead or dying in Dublin.

“Countless others were wounded, many with their lives irrevocably changed as a result of the events of the day. More death and heartbreak was to follow.”

On the morning of the GAA match at Croke Park, IRA members shot and killed 12 men they claimed to be working on behalf of British Intelligence and two auxiliary police officers.

Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie described the statement as “impressive”.

Mr Beattie said: “I think this is an impressive statement by the Irish president.

“In it he remembers – while so many others choose to forget – all those who died this day 100 years ago.”

In his message on Twitter, Mr Beattie added: “None of them woke up that day expecting to die. He has reached out and I applaud him for doing so.”

President Higgins’ statement goes on to say: “For all of us, to avoid becoming captives of any frozen version of the events of our past, we must find the courage to remember painful events with honesty”.

• President Michael D Higgins speech in full

“At the close of that day of such killing and injury 100 years ago, 32 people, three of them children, lay dead or dying in Dublin. Countless others were wounded, many with their lives irrevocably changed as a result of the events of the day. More death and heartbreak was to follow.

While details of these events and the context in which they occurred had initially been hidden, even denied, over the intervening period they continued to be contested, obscured or selectively recalled for various purposes. We recall today those lost and those who suffered with a sense of profound sadness and outrage even, but also as a reminder of the fragility of the hard-earned peace to which we have become accustomed and the consequences that flow from the abuse of power and the failure of diplomacy and politics.

That the events that took place can, in their brutality and casualness to the taking of life, still shock and challenge us all is to be understood. People from different backgrounds on the island may reflect on Bloody Sunday in different ways. We must respect this and be open to differing perspectives, and encourage a hospitality for these differing narratives of the events of that day. For all of us, to avoid becoming captives of any frozen version of the events of our past, we must find the courage to remember painful events with honesty. Doing this can only assist us in taking responsibility for the present and our shared, peaceful future together.”

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