The setting up of a truth commission to promote harmony in the island was suggested by lecturer and author Mr Nollaig O Gadhra when he spoke at the annual Liam Lynch commemoration in the Knockmealdown Mountains in Co Tipperary yesterday.
Mr O Gadhra, whose book on the Civil War in Connacht was published recently by the Mercier Press, said the commission should be broadly-based, and not just along the lines of the South African model. He added that it should be structured in such a way "that it would help promote real dialogue and reconciliation between all groups in Ireland", helping to "out the vast web of hypocrisy, mutual back-scratching and deliberate spinning which has made a joke of both Irish history and honest media standards in recent times."
Mr O Gadhra said the commission would "probe all the sins of all our fathers on all sides, against each other, and within the various republican families also".
He suggested that the organisers of the annual Beal na mBlath commemoration of Michael Collins invite the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, to give the oration. Mr Reynolds, he said, had a long association with Co Longford, which was the home county of Kitty Kiernan. "If we have not progressed that far yet, can I call on the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and others in Government to resurrect the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, which Mr Reynolds set up in Dublin Castle and which made a first real effort at honest dialogue in many areas until he lost office."