PRC-UTE
30th January 2005, 01:47
McAleese: Protestant children taught to hate Catholics
27/01/2005 - 19:04:42
President Mary McAleese was at the centre of a sectarian row tonight
after claiming Protestant children in the North were taught to hate
Catholics in the same way Nazis despised Jews.
It provoked outrage among unionists who accused her of vilifying an
entire community.
President McAleese assessment came during ceremonies to mark the 60th
anniversary of the Auschwitz concentration camp liberation.
Anti-Semitism that existed for decades had been built upon by the
Nazis, she said.
"They gave to their children an irrational hatred of Jews in the same
way that people in Northern Ireland transmitted to their children an
irrational hatred of Catholics, in the same way that people give to
their children an outrageous and irrational hatred of those who are
of different colour and all of those things."
Unionists were astonished and incensed by the comparison from a head
of state who has cited strengthening cross-community relations as a
key aim of her Presidency.
She has held talks with Ulster Defence Association representatives in
some of Belfast's most staunchly Protestant districts.
But the efforts of Mrs McAleese, a working-class Catholic once burnt
out of her home in the west of the city by loyalists, appeared in
jeopardy tonight.
Ian Paisley Jr, a Democratic Unionist Assembly member, said: "So much
for bridge-building Mary.
"Her comments are completely irrational and are designed to insult
the integrity of the Protestant community and damn an entire
generation of Protestant people.
"Her mask as being a healer of divided peoples has slipped.
"She is spewing out hatred of the Protestant community, whilst
accusing those same people of hating Catholics."
Mrs McAleese, who had joined survivors and over 40 heads of state for
the memorial ceremonies in southern Poland, has courted controversy
in the past.
In 1997, during her first term in office, she stirred up an unholy
row by taking communion at Dublin's Anglican Cathedral.
The city's Catholic Archbishop, Desmond Connell, described it as a
sham.
Unionist fury is still raw over Sinn Fein claims that the IRA gang
who abducted and secretly murdered west Belfast woman Jean McConville
were guilty of no crime.
One of the so-called "disappeared", the mother of 10 was seized from
her home in 1972 after going to the aid of a wounded soldier.
Her remains were finally found on a Co Louth beach 30 years later.
With Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin insisting Mrs McConville's
murder was not a criminal act, Mr Paisley challenged the President to
be as critical of IRA violence.
"I don't know of any Protestant community that teaches hatred of
Catholics," he added.
"I know of a community that teaches Love Thy Neighbour, even though
for the last 34 years they have been tortured, tormented and murdered
by violent republicanism.
"The same republicanism that this week said murdering a defenceless
woman is not a crime.
"Her silence on Mitchel McLaughlin's definition of the IRA being
legitimate is in stark contrast to her wanton abuse of the Protestant
people on this issue."
A spokesperson for the President's office tonight declined to make
any further comment.
27/01/2005 - 19:04:42
President Mary McAleese was at the centre of a sectarian row tonight
after claiming Protestant children in the North were taught to hate
Catholics in the same way Nazis despised Jews.
It provoked outrage among unionists who accused her of vilifying an
entire community.
President McAleese assessment came during ceremonies to mark the 60th
anniversary of the Auschwitz concentration camp liberation.
Anti-Semitism that existed for decades had been built upon by the
Nazis, she said.
"They gave to their children an irrational hatred of Jews in the same
way that people in Northern Ireland transmitted to their children an
irrational hatred of Catholics, in the same way that people give to
their children an outrageous and irrational hatred of those who are
of different colour and all of those things."
Unionists were astonished and incensed by the comparison from a head
of state who has cited strengthening cross-community relations as a
key aim of her Presidency.
She has held talks with Ulster Defence Association representatives in
some of Belfast's most staunchly Protestant districts.
But the efforts of Mrs McAleese, a working-class Catholic once burnt
out of her home in the west of the city by loyalists, appeared in
jeopardy tonight.
Ian Paisley Jr, a Democratic Unionist Assembly member, said: "So much
for bridge-building Mary.
"Her comments are completely irrational and are designed to insult
the integrity of the Protestant community and damn an entire
generation of Protestant people.
"Her mask as being a healer of divided peoples has slipped.
"She is spewing out hatred of the Protestant community, whilst
accusing those same people of hating Catholics."
Mrs McAleese, who had joined survivors and over 40 heads of state for
the memorial ceremonies in southern Poland, has courted controversy
in the past.
In 1997, during her first term in office, she stirred up an unholy
row by taking communion at Dublin's Anglican Cathedral.
The city's Catholic Archbishop, Desmond Connell, described it as a
sham.
Unionist fury is still raw over Sinn Fein claims that the IRA gang
who abducted and secretly murdered west Belfast woman Jean McConville
were guilty of no crime.
One of the so-called "disappeared", the mother of 10 was seized from
her home in 1972 after going to the aid of a wounded soldier.
Her remains were finally found on a Co Louth beach 30 years later.
With Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin insisting Mrs McConville's
murder was not a criminal act, Mr Paisley challenged the President to
be as critical of IRA violence.
"I don't know of any Protestant community that teaches hatred of
Catholics," he added.
"I know of a community that teaches Love Thy Neighbour, even though
for the last 34 years they have been tortured, tormented and murdered
by violent republicanism.
"The same republicanism that this week said murdering a defenceless
woman is not a crime.
"Her silence on Mitchel McLaughlin's definition of the IRA being
legitimate is in stark contrast to her wanton abuse of the Protestant
people on this issue."
A spokesperson for the President's office tonight declined to make
any further comment.