The unveiling of an Athlone monument to the families of soldiers who fought in Siege of Jadotville has been heavily criticised.
The event and monument was organised to pay tribute to the memories of the families of the soldiers of A Company, 35th Infantry Battalion who took part in the Siege of Jadotville in the Congo during September 1961.
The monument was commissioned on the recommendation of the Independent Review Group established to examine the events in 1961.
According to many of families, no invites were received with several others invited at short notices or in a haphazard fashion.
Commandant Leo Quinlan, son of Pat Quinlan, Commanding Officer of A Company, branded the event as incompetent and offensive.
Speaking to the Joe Finnegan Show, Antoinette Tighe described how the family received a personal invitation for her father Michael Tighe, nine months after he passed away:
You know my dad gave his life to the army.
I don't know what rock the person who sent the invitation was under because my dad's death was in the national papers.
They were so good at doing the wrong thing and just couldn't do the right thing.
They can send out an invitation to my dad's widow, to our family on the first Christmas without our dad.
But they couldn't give those men, who fought for the peacekeeping in Jadotville, they couldn't give them the medals they deserved and they called them cowards.
Meawhile Danny Tiernan son of Sergeant George Tiernan told the Joe Finnegan Show that the memorial is meaningless when the Government still do not acknowledge what happened:
I think its sad that they are going on with these silly memorials.
They still don't believe Cmnt Quinlan and what he put on paper after the Battle of Jaldotville
They'd be better off believing what Cmnt Quinlan said instead of putting up stones to commemorate this and commemorate that.
