Twenty years ago, Caoimhin MacBradaigh went to the funeral of an IRA member who had been killed in the "line of duty". A loyalist murdered Mr. MacBradaigh at the funeral. Now Sinn Fein would like to honor the memory of the man.
Edwin Poots is outraged. How dare the Shinners suggest that one of the new Irish language bodies in Northern Ireland be used to memorialize a terrorist? Of course the man was a terrorist. He was killed at a funeral for another terrorist so he's tarred by the same brush.
As culture minister, Mr. Poots must look out for the culture, and he doesn't want IRA culture to be glorified. It's deplorable, he says. It's a slap at the beautiful Irish language, and it's a slap at the unionists who might, should hell freeze over, wish to learn how to speak Irish. Sure, he was against funding for legislation that would have promoted the Irish language, but he's a unionist and unionists are in the majority and they aren't Irish so why waste money?
Having lost that battle, Mr. Poots has taken another tack, lambasting Sinn Fein over the choice of a name, and who cares that the murder victim spoke Irish? All those Shinners go around speaking Irish just to annoy the Democratic Unionists.
In other news, the most vicious and vile mural in Belfast is finally getting painted over, after ten years of negotiations. The huge image that celebrates the glories of the loyalist thugs who terrorized Belfast's Catholics will be no more. In its place will rise another mural, celebrating William of Orange and his victory over the Catholics at the Battle of the Boyne.
Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, meet pot. Both black.
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