WHEN Luke Kelly sang For What Died the Sons of Róisín, what do you think he meant?
Of course, there is always a problem with interpreting the past and those who went before us.
That’s why those who are called dissident republicans can continually refer to the dead as a reason to keep on justifying violence.
Bobby Sands can’t say now what he’d think about Ireland today, but others can say on his behalf what he’d want because his death means his ideals are frozen in time.
Likewise, Ireland’s far right can wrap themselves in a tricolour and call on the dead who died fighting for some idea of Ireland and declare they’d be horrified by Ireland today.
They can own the past because the past can’t answer back.
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