The Mayor of Clare has criticised plans for a commemoration service for the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC).

Cathal Crowe says the planned event later this month is "a step too far".

The Fianna Fáil mayor says he will boycott the national commemoration service, after being invited by the Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan.

It is set to take place at Dublin Castle on January 17th.

In a statement, Mayor Crowe said: "In the main, I think all of the Government's State commemorations have been apt and tasteful but I see the commemoration of the RIC as a step too far.

"I studied history for four years at the University of Limerick and blog regularly about local history on my social media pages.

"I am also a committee member of a War of Independence commemoration committee in my home parish of Meelick-Parteen.

Image: Facebook/Cllr. Cathal Crowe - Mayor of Clare

"I don't hold any ill feeling towards the individual men who served in the RIC Division of Clare - many of them were decent people who were guided by the their strong civic and law-abiding principles.

"I do however think it's wrong to celebrate and eulogise (I consider 'commemorate' to be a verb with positive connotations) an organisation that was the strong-arm of the British state in Ireland.

"The RIC joined army and auxiliaries (Black & Tans) in search parties and raids that resulted in our country-people being killed/tortured or having their homes torched."

He added: "A further issue I have with the state commemoration is that An Garda Síochána will be central to the entire event.

"The guards have my full and upmost respect but I don't believe that historically or ethically they should seek to claim any form of descent from the RIC.

"The Irish Defence Forces see themselves as a totally distinct organisation from the British army.

"I honestly believe that Ireland, her government and her people have thus far sensitively commemorated all of the seminal events of the Decade of Centenaries but commemorating the RIC is definitively an overstretch.

"It's also historical revisionism gone too far."

The foundation of the RIC dates from 1836 when Thomas Drummond, under-secretary for Ireland from 1835-40, passed an "act consolidating the laws relating to the Constabulary Force in Ireland".

The force had a strength of 10,000 at its foundation, rising to 10,500 in 1856.

The organisation was in place in Ireland until 1922 when the Irish Free State was established.