Standing on the raised plinth at the bottom of Daniel O’Connell’s statue in O’Connell Street in Dublin in October 2001, I had a clear view of the procession behind the coffins of the 10 republican martyrs executed by the British during the War of Independence. Best known of the martyrs was 18-year-old Kevin Barry, hanged in Mountjoy Prison for his part in an IRA operation during which a British soldier was killed. O’Connell Street was thronged with people paying their respects to those from another era in time who gave their young lives so that those on the streets that day could live in a country free from occupation by the British Crown forces.