To whom it may concern,
I am writing to you with regards to the Community Diary page of your paper (June 24 edition ) in which an article about the Coolbawn ambush commemoration was featured. There were numerous errors in the article that a number of people find insulting.
First there was not one but two commemorations that day. One was organised by the Sinn Féin party while the other was an apolitical commemoration led by a group of people, of which I am part, that have been maintaining the monument since the 50th anniversary. A group of all ages and genders including members from various political parties and non-political persons alike. It is this commemoration that members of the families attended.
Furthermore it is highly offensive to those who clean and maintain the monument and commemorate the event every year for you to suggest that "the commemoration had long died out before being revived last year by local Sinn Féin members" since they have never once volunteered to do any work on or fund the monument, instead being happy to predate on the work of other dedicated individuals who are not so narcissistic as to announce their efforts in the same way the aforementioned party did. They should not be credited with reviving anything. In fact the organisers of the Sinn Féin rally on that day did not even have the courtesy to contact those who had cut shrubs, painted walls, cleaned rubbish, made wreaths and laid bark mulch, over the last few weeks for the 90th anniversary. I have no problem with anyone celebrating our heroes, they are all our heroes, I don't even have a problem with a party having its own commemoration separately, but I do have a problem when any group of people hijack something as important as this for solely political gain.
Yours sincerely,
TJ McGrath-Daly
