Freeman honour for dead Earl misplaced

Restoring the Freedom of Limerick to a long dead Earl of Dunraven smacks of political hypocrisy and is an insult to those who revoked it, a spokesman for Republican Sinn Fein said today.

 Mick The Quill Ryan from Ballynanty, chairman of RSF in the northside of Limerick said that the action by the Limerick City Council is a retrograde step.

The fact is the Earl of Dunraven was removed from the Roll of Freemen of the City of Limerick for supporting the conscription of Irish men to fight in the Great War, said Mr. Ryan.

At the time it was a hotly debated political topic and the then City Council decided to strip the Earl of the honour of being a Freeman of Limerick. Now almost 90 years later the current City Council says he should be re-instated on the Roll.

It is surprising that the local Labour Party represented by Cllr Kieran Walsh was to the fore in having the name of the Earl re-instated on the Roll.

The Labour Party would be the first to proclaim that the days of tugging the forelock to the gentry is long gone, but this action smacks of licking up to families of power, wealth and influence.

It would be far more worthy of the Labour Party to ensure that their founder James Connolly who led the Irish Citizen Army and whom a British Army firing Squad executed after the 1916 Rising, is added to the list of Freemen of Limerick