Pro-Treaty or Anti-Treaty?

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Always amazes me that Dev is so reverred, he should be held responsible for a lot of the mess.

History in Ireland has always been taught from a strictly anti-British point of view.

The widely-taught belief is that the civil war was the fault of the Pro-Treaty side for being willing to sign up to it without a fight, rather than Dev's side for wanting to fight about it. In many areas there's an idea that Collins got what was coming to him and that DeValera won the civil war, even though he didn't.

It's this concept of, "We signed the treaty, but by jaysus we didn't go without a fight", that causes the reverence that many hold Dev in.

I think that is slowly changing though as people realise that Irish history isn't the same story of heroism and victory the church has taught us since the 1930s, and that Devalera would be aghast at the more secular and open-minded Ireland that we have today.
The original slogan against Home Rule for the Irish was that "Home Rule is Rome Rule". They were right, that was exactly the kind of Ireland Devalera wanted and it's the kind of Ireland he got until the 1990s.

I think it is very difficult to put yourself in anyone's shoes in or around early 1920s Ireland during the struggle for freedom in this country.

My gut feeling on it is that I would have been anti-treaty at the time. However, in the fullness of time I think we probably got the best deal we could at the time and ultimately, despite the Northern troubles, I think it worked out better for us over the next 75 years than what the alternative would have been.

I'd genuinely like to see a united Ireland, ruled from Dublin. I have no time for unionists, loyalists, orange men or the majority of protestants of Ulster. Nor do I have much time for the English (in general). I wouldn't call it hatred, but having regard to what was done to us for so long in our history I don't think I will ever warm to them as a people. That's not to say I don't like individuals.

However, this country saw a lot of bloodshed over the years and I think it is time to move on from our past (not forget it) and seek political means to establishing a United Ireland at a suitable time (or else just breed them out ).

I also reserve a full distaste for our so called Republican Freedom fighters over the past two decades. the R/P/C IRA and whatever other reincarnations exist now are a shameful mockery of the IRA of the Collins era.