A chara, - Padraig Uas O Cuananachain's letter (June 5th) raises some interesting points. His letter sought to "clarify" some issues of the War of Independence for Kevin Myers and other lesser breeds. He speaks of "the lawfully elected Government of the Irish people" in relation to this period. May I direct him to Professor Tom Garvin's excellent 1922: The Birth of Irish Democracy. Prof. Garvin casts some grave doubts on the authority of the 1918 election that brought this separatist government to the dizzying heights of hegemony. He maintains: "The election of 1918 itself had been in many ways non-competitive, and there had been considerable intimidation by what was becoming the IRA. There was also a considerable amount of impersonation and stuffing of ballot boxes." Such facts are hardly the foundation for what was termed "the lawfully elected government" to which Tom Barry supposedly gave his allegiance. Garvin goes on: "Separatist leaders openly admitted that the elections of 1918, 1921 and 1922 were doubtful expressions of the popular will."
An t-Uas O Cuanachain follows this up with an extraordinary naive comment: ". . . the IRA was the lawful government of the Irish people." Again Prof. Garvin makes short work of such unhistorical tomfoolery. "The IRA was a putative paramilitary force who subsequently proved "far more loyal to itself than any notional parliament, whether `Free State or Republican'."
Such comments from the defender of Tom Barry's honour come out of the vocabulary of Barry's own anti-treaty comrades, who believed in their own political and moral superiority, even when the electorate disagreed. The IRA did not "win the war" alone. Most Volunteers worked with only one authority - their "superior" Republican qualifications. Neither were they the lawful government post-1921, having repudiated the authority which was previously sited for that claim - elections. Barry ignored "mere" democracy during 1922 when the electorate routed him.
An t-Uas O Cunachain further criticises Kevin Myers for "revising history". On the basis of what he (O Cuanachain) wrote I would suggest that he is rather adept at such tricks himself. To make spurious claims to glorify a painful time in our past is to prostitute history to expediency - something Kevin Myers has never done. - Le meas, John Paul McCarthy,
Blarney Road,
Corcaigh.