Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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347. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence whether he will make a statement to Dáil Éireann confirming that the report of the Army Court of Inquiry that sat in Tralee on 7 April 1923 to investigate the death of eight prisoners at Ballyseedy Bridge and four prisoners at Countess Bridge on 7 and 8 March 1923, was a dishonest and grossly inaccurate account of what occurred, and that Dáil Éireann was misled on 17 April 1923 when the then Minister for Defence stated he was satisfied with the correctness and bona fides of the findings of that Court of Inquiry. [14843/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As I have already stated in the Dáil when the matter was raised earlier this month, I believe that the Dáil record as a historical narrative in itself should be left as it stands because it is part of an infamous attempt to cover up what happened at Ballyseedy.

I also spoke on the matter at a centenary commemoration of the Ballyseedy massacre earlier this month, where I acknowledged in my speech that there had been brutal attacks committed by both sides of the civil war. The blowing up of five soldiers in Knocknagoshel, which it is believed sparked the reprisal of the brutal massacre of eight prisoners at Ballyseedy Bridge and four prisoners at Countess Bridge in March 1923 marked one of the lowest points in Ireland’s national history.

I am aware that there was an attempt to cover up what happened. However I would caution against any rushed response to calls to correct the record of Dáil Éireann to reflect what happened 100 years ago.

There were many atrocities on both sides during the Civil War, but we should reflect on the best way to deal with this. Ballyseedy Bridge and Countess Bridge is a part of our history, which we must never forget but it cannot define us.