[ad_1]
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney described a controversial tweet from Sinn Féin’s TD Brian Stanley, which referred to incidents from the Revolutionary War and the Troubles, as “really insensitive” and “very stupid.”
Stanley apologized for a now-deleted tweet, saying it was “inappropriate and insensitive.”
On Saturday, Laois-Offaly’s TD tweeted in reference to the Kilmichael Ambush in 1920 and the Narrow Water Massacre in Warrenpoint, Co Down in 1979, stating that they were “the 2 IRA operations that taught the elite British Army and to the establishment the cost of occupying Ireland. Pity for everyone, they were such slow learners. “
Eighteen British soldiers were killed at Warrenpoint by the Provisional IRA in August 1979.
A total of 17 British soldiers were killed during the Kilmichael War of Independence incident, along with three men from the IRA.
As a seasoned DT and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Mr. Stanley “should know more than this,” Coveney told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
This was “another case of slippage of the mask” with a Sinn Féin member “coming out with this bile.”
Such comments were “really useless and insensitive.”
Sinn Féin needed to make a clear statement on the matter and that “these kinds of comments must stop,” Coveney added.
Sinn Féin was a party that enjoyed electoral success and that had a responsibility to “stay away from this type of language,” he added.
Innocent Victims United, one of the groups representing the victims of the riots, said: “These comments from one of the new generation of Sinn Féin, elected TD in 2020, illustrate that nothing has changed in the mentality of their representatives “.
Group spokesperson Kenny Donaldson said: “For a Sinn Féin TD to continue to praise these events in 2020 is depraved, disgusting and highly insulting to families broken by these heinous events, particularly the latest Narrow Water massacre where they are found. first and second generation relatives still alive, as well as many of the injured survivors.
“There is no place in this society (north or south of the border) for the glorification and romanticization of terrorism. All eyes are on Sinn Féin’s leadership in the way they respond. Do they condone Brian Stanley’s comments, will they just turn around and pretend they haven’t heard the comments or will they actually deal with it? “
[ad_2]