Why John Bruton’s Views of the 1916 Easter Rising Should Be Ignored
This week, once again, former Taoiseach John Bruton was given media coverage on his somewhat ludicrous views of the 1916 Easter Rising.
On Monday night, RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live featured a short television piece which followed the former Taoiseach around Dublin as explained his reasons why the people who fought on both sides during The 1916 Easter Rising should be commemorated. “When we come to commemorate 1916 there should be no hierarchy of victims and we should remember all the victims,” he said. This is a fair point as the majority of those who died fighting against the rebels, whether they were a part of the British Army or the RIC, were also Irish.
However, Mr Bruton used this argument to diminish the whole idea of commemorating the Easter Rising, which should be about celebrating the proclamation and this turning point for Irish nationalism, as well as commemorating and remembering those who died during the struggle.
While most of those who spoke on the show disagreed with John Bruton overall, none disagreed that all those who died should be remembered. Historian, Trevor Hogan, said: “I think there should be a distinction and a differentiation made between those who stood up against oppression and those who, in the brilliant words of the proclamation, envisaged a society of equals; a just, social society… The centre of the commemorations should be the proclamation and, unfortunately, from what I can gather the Government, who are embarrassed almost by 1916 still haven’t released any programme. They are still putting it off until the last second.”
It is true that there were concerns the Fine Gael-Labour coalition was not taking the task seriously. The 1916 Relatives Association was set up specifically because of these concerns after last year’s draft programme fell flat. This group was set up to put pressure on the Government over centenary plans and the members even began organising events for the centenary months ago for fear the Government wouldn’t.
However, it appears that the coalition has gotten its act together as the official programme was announced yesterday with €22 million being invested in the commemorations. Events will include a parade through Dublin city on Easter Sunday, as well as a number of exhibitions and public projects. Speaking in Collins Barracks Taoiseach Enda Kenny did add, “I must stress that this programme is still a developing one.”
It is a relief that current Fine Gael politicians are starting to take the centenary seriously and do not share the same views as John Bruton. The reason I found his television appearance so irritating was because the former Taoiseach’s views were not forthcoming on the show.
Mr Bruton is a staunch supporter of Home Rule. During his term as Taoiseach he hung a portrait of John Redmond in Leinster House and just last year, during the Scottish referendum on independence, he said the 1916 Easter Rising was a mistake and that “Ireland could have followed the same peaceful path to independence with Home Rule.”
These views were eventually echoed toward the end of the discussion on Claire Byrne Live. When asked if he considered the 1916 leaders heroes, John Bruton said,” I think they were very brave people. I think the rising was not necessary, because Home Rule had already been conceded and would have come into effect, and would have acted as a stepping stone to where we are today without the loss of life”.
His views seem to be more conservative than those of most Fine Gael party members and in the past his unusual views did not go unnoticed as the late Albert Reynolds, former Fianna Fáil Taoiseach, once referred to him as “John Unionist”.
In 1995 during his term as Taoiseach, John Bruton also showed his fondness of the British monarchy when Prince Charles came to visit. The Prince was the first member of the royal family to visit Ireland since 1912 and during his toast to the visitors in Dublin Castle, the then Taoiseach went a bit over the top in a speech that the British press ripped to shreds. The Times deemed it “embarrassingly effusive” and The Guardian ridiculed his “extravagantly nonsensical attitudes”. The Irish press also quoted the Taoiseach on the royal visit as saying, “This is the happiest day of my life”. Although John Bruton refutes this statement.
Even in history books, he does not appear to be the most nationalistic of people. In his book, The Troubles, historical writer Tim Pat Coogan writes: “Bruton, the leader of Fine Gael, who is widely liked on all sides of the political divide for his fundamental decency, is also suspected in some Nationalist circles of a pro-Unionist stance. Even by the standards of the right-wing Fine Gael party, his attitudes are regarded as unusual. A Conservative MP who had dealings with him remarked wonderingly to me: ‘You know, he’s a bigger bloody Unionist than I am!’”
On Monday night, I believe that John Bruton threw a spanner in the works to distract from what commemorating 1916 Easter Rising should really be about and to ruin any meaningful discussion on the subject. He used the need to commemorate all of those that lost their lives on both sides, which is admirable, to push his own agenda. He used this to put into question whether the centenary is a thing to be celebrated and to diminish the heroism of those that stood against oppression. I’m still slightly shocked that he received so much air time for his views, which are surely in the minority. Sinn Féin’s Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald seemed baffled that celebrating the centenary of the rising was even in question and I’m sure many viewers felt the same.
All that John Bruton asserts is a big ‘what if’. He accuses the 1916 rebels of bringing violence and death to the Nationalist movement in Ireland, but a number of groups had already done that in an attempt to suppress it. The British Army, the RIC, as well as the UVF had all taken up arms before this time. Back in 1885 British politician Joseph Chamberlain described the situation in Ireland as “founded on the bayonets of 30,000 soldiers encamped permanently on a hostile country”.
The Fenians had already used a campaign of violence to fight for nationalism since 1881 and without their actions it is questionable whether Home Rule would ever have been secured. Edward George Jenkinson was in charge of Britain’s counter-Fenian organisation and in 1884 he suggested that Home Rule could be used to weaken Irish Nationalists by dividing those who wanted to violence from those who wanted to use parliamentary means. In a letter published in Shane Kenna’s book War in the Shadows, he wrote: “We should create disunion among the nationalist leaders, and all the practical and sensible ones among them would come over to our side and would help us work out a practical solution to the Home Rule Question.”
Home Rule was eventually passed in 1914, but it came too late as the Irish people had begun to yearn for complete self-determination. By the 1918 elections Sinn Féin, which wanted to break away from Britain, won a majority of seats while the Irish Parliamentary Party won just six. Given the overwhelming support for Irish sovereignty, surely this would have been the time for Britain to give the Irish people a referendum on independence… But of course this did not happen. Remember the British government allowed gerrymandering and an unfair voting system in Northern Ireland up until 1972. I think if the Irish people had settled with Home Rule, we would still be waiting for our independence.
I do believe that all those who had to die in the struggle for our country’s freedom should be remembered in some way or another, but I also believe that those who fought for freedom and equality should be celebrated. The 1916 Easter Rising should not be diminished by those who dredge up the arguments of a hundred years ago and think that Home Rule would have sufficed.
I hope the rising can be commemorated properly and will not be ruined by today’s politics in the run up to the general elections of 2016.