A member of the Irish parliament has apologised for posting a tweet that celebrated two historical attacks by the IRA on the British Army.
Brian Stanley, the Sinn Fein representative for Laois/Offaly, posted the message on Saturday and has subsequently deleted it.
The chairman of the Dail’s public accounts committee wrote to his 3,700 followers: “Kilmicheal [sic] (1920) and Narrow Water (1979) the 2 IRA operations that taught the elective of [the] British army and the establishment the cost of occupying Ireland. Pity for everyone they were such slow learners.”
Saturday was 100 years to the day since the Kilmichael ambush during the war of independence.
Mr Stanley’s post drew swift condemination, with Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, calling it “really insensitive and stupid”.
World news in pictures
Show all 50
1 /50World news in pictures
World news in pictures
30 September 2020
Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
29 September 2020
A girl’s silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
28 September 2020
A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People’s Republic of China on October 1st
Getty
World news in pictures
27 September 2020
The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes
Getty
World news in pictures
26 September 2020
A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
25 September 2020
The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
24 September 2020
An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand’s parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
23 September 2020
A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors
The Mercury/AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
22 September 2020
State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
21 September 2020
A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic
AP
World news in pictures
20 September 2020
A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California
EPA
World news in pictures
19 September 2020
Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand’s royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
18 September 2020
Supporters of Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq
Reuters
World news in pictures
17 September 2020
A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at ‘the Place de la Nation’ as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France
EPA
World news in pictures
16 September 2020
A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day
EPA
World news in pictures
15 September 2020
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin’s Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month
Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP
World news in pictures
14 September 2020
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election in Tokyo
Reuters
World news in pictures
13 September 2020
A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
12 September 2020
Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president’s resignation are now in their second month
AP
World news in pictures
11 September 2020
Members of ‘Omnium Cultural’ celebrate the 20th ‘Festa per la llibertat’ (‘Fiesta for the freedom’) to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia
EPA
World news in pictures
10 September 2020
The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece’s biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
9 September 2020
Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
8 September 2020
A home is engulfed in flames during the “Creek Fire” in the Tollhouse area of California
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
7 September 2020
A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
6 September 2020
Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open
USA Today Sports/Reuters
World news in pictures
5 September 2020
Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
4 September 2020
A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
3 September 2020
A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador
EPA
World news in pictures
2 September 2020
A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Reuters
World news in pictures
1 September 2020
Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk
TUT.BY/AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
31 August 2020
The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
30 August 2020
Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus
Reuters
World news in pictures
29 August 2020
A woman holding a placard reading “Stop Censorship – Yes to the Freedom of Expression” shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
28 August 2020
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world’s third-largest economy
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
27 August 2020
Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
26 August 2020
People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
25 August 2020
An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel
Reuters
World news in pictures
24 August 2020
Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
23 August 2020
People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India
Reuters
World news in pictures
22 August 2020
Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California
AP
World news in pictures
21 August 2020
Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
20 August 2020
A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
19 August 2020
A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
18 August 2020
Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
17 August 2020
Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
16 August 2020
Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland
AP
World news in pictures
15 August 2020
Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
14 August 2020
AlphaTauri’s driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
13 August 2020
Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio
AFP via Getty
World news in pictures
12 August 2020
Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya
AFP via Getty
The Fine Gael politician added in an interview with RTE’s Good Morning Ireland : “It was a really insensitive and stupid thing to tweet. This isn’t someone in Sinn Fein who allowed a rush of blood to the head who is inexperienced.
“Brian Stanley is a senior Sinn Fein TD, he is chair of the Public Accounts Committee, he should know better than this.
“Sinn Fein speak publicly about the need for legacy infrastructure to deal with the past in a sensitive way. They talk about reconciliation yet a senior Sinn Fein person comes out with this bile on social media which is really about division and hatred.
“This kind of language needs to be consigned to history. We are trying to live in peace on this island.”
Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland ’s first minister, said she would write to the chair of the Dail about the incident.
The Kilmichael ambush was an attack carried out by the IRA during the War of Independence in which 17 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary Auxiliary Division were killed.
The Narrow Water ambush took place during the Troubles and saw 18 British soldiers killed by the IRA near Warrenpoint, in 1979.
The attack took place the same day provisionals blew up a fishing boat off the coast of Mullaghmore in Co Sligo, which killed Lord Louis Mountbatten, a second cousin to Queen Elizabeth who served in two world wars.
Mr Stanley’s tweet received more than 500 likes on the platform and was shared close to 400 times.
Sinn Fein noted that Mr Stanley had apologised for the “inappropriate and insensitive” tweet, adding: “We all have a responsibility in this decade of centenaries to remember and commemorate the past in a respectful manner.”
Additional reporting by Press Association
Source
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.